This is one of the reasons that I pulled my wife from the church that she was going to before she met me. Each Sunday it was seeking after these manifestations that worried me. Rather than allowing it to just happen, her pastor would push for the congregation to make it happen.
One Wednesday night he actually threatened to leave the service because our worship wasn't good enough for the Holy Spirit according to him. He played the same song 7 times until he felt the Holy Spirit was satisfied with the worship.
I thought we were there to Worship God, not the Holy Spirit. He put way too much emphasis on Holy Spirit worship.
It was a fight to get her to leave that church. It was like she was addicted to the emotional high that she got from each service. I was able to discern that the services were not of God, but rather a proud and controlling pastor.
An analogy. I am sure every one has met these people. They go for several sessions or even for a longer season. But what they get out of their therapy is that it is evil for them to repress their feelings and evil for others to control them and so they are going to set boundaries. The problem is they go over board and only get the first step in the therapy and never move on to the next step. So here I am working at my job at the pizza shop and at the end of the transaction I say the normal thing " have a nice day " , to which this person responds " don't you dare tell me what to do " and then proceeds on a rant where they express all kinds of rude feelings to me for a half an hour. n their mind they are the hero in the a story and are living in their new found freedom that their therapy has won them.
Sometimes this movement reminds me of the people from my analogy. After years of being at the other dangerous extreme , they replace it with this new extreme. They are so puffed up on their insight that made them realize that they did not have to be uptight or overly intellectual that they neglected to realize that was only the first step. Now they are getting all this attention for their antics and refuse to grow up.
That is how I see this movement. Mostly immature and self centered , part way healed people , who need to finish their therapy with the Holy Spirit. This is happening as a product of the last few decades of the "me" generation.
It is good that they want joy in their life. But they take it too far and get stuck on it. It is like a little kid whose parent tickled their belly and so they go around tickling everyone. Except some of these people are still tickling thirty years later.
I used to discipline my children when they started acting too silly or took it too far and were being rude or inappropriate. Just yesterday , I was sitting at the Starbucks trying to read a book and this couple brought their children in. Probably around 8 and 9 years old. They proceeded to entertain their children by having them play a game of tag in the Starbucks. Running back and forth and dodging in and out and almost knocking over people and drinks. These parents were " just playing " . But it was rude. The manager had to ask them to settle down.
Or what about a couple making out in public. Where does it cross the line ? I mean they are in love and have sex together and God is o.k. with that.
Agape love is not rude and inconsiderate of other people. People in this movement say that God has given them this gift and they know it offends other people by their acting foolish and mocking sacred things.Making that a goal and a lifestyle is not walking in love.
1Co 13:4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud.
1Co 13:5 Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it.
The Holy Spirit can and does give joy and peace. Once in a while it can be overwhelming and even seem silly . But that it an experience , not a lifestyle. And certainly not something to be used in a rude way in public.
Notice the fruit of The Holy Spirit includes joy and peace. But it also includes self control and love. Kindness and gentleness.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit that the Spirit produces in a person's life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Gal 5:23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these kinds of things.
One of the concerns that I have with the movement is this. As time goes by and these people are not Chastened of The Lord for their clearly inappropriate behavior , that becomes a warning sign that they are either without Chastisement , which means they are not really saved. Or they are resisting that chastisement. Either way , it is not something we should want to be a part of.
Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Heb 12:9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Heb 12:10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Heb 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Heb 12:12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
There are some in the movement that take it even father than immaturity and become wolves that have demon spirits operating in them.
