For the past week or so I’ve been mulling over my next blog entry. I just wanted to convey my current thoughts and feelings on the area of miracles in Christianity and just getting a proper perspective on the subject.
I listened to the latest Free Believers Network podcast entitled Redefining The Presence of God, 2nd June 2010. The discussion on this podcast episode kind of dove-tailed with the topic which I had been thinking about this week.
The Charismatic Church
It seems that the institutional church, particularly the charismatic, Pentecostal environment, can really mess with your head. I have found that most, if not all, of the grace believers I have contacted, either face-to-face or on the internet, have come from a charismatic background.
The charismatic movement seems to be a blend of upholding the concept of a judgemental God, keeping principles (a subtle term for rules), together with miraculous testimonies. It is very much an Old Testament approach. Think about that for a moment – you have the concept of a far and distant God who will only come near to you if there is no sin in your life, in other words, if you follow the right principles, read your Bible and pray hard. But if you do get your life right – God will appear to you and allow you to approach Him – just like Moses and the burning bush. It is as if we are each expecting to meet meticulous, Old Testament style rules, with the prize of having Almighty God in our lives.
The image that springs to mind is that of someone wearing a bio hazard suit, cautious of what disease he might contract should he come near to you. I am also reminded of a “germaphobe” like the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, who had particular requirements: his cutlery had to be sterilised and his milk had to be poured at a particular angle, and so on.
Word of Faith
Then, Word of Faith comes along, with those who teach it telling you the most incredible things that happened to them. Naturally, you want to know how they did it, what they did to bring this awesomely powerful, yet judgemental, Old Testament God to come near you and participate in your life.
So you end-up reading a book by a faith teacher like Kenneth E. Hagin who did “A”, “B” and “C” – and then God did “X”, “Y” and “Z” – something miraculous and supernatural. These testimonies become the spiritual prize that we are all seeking after. It’s as if love, truth and good will to all men kind of takes a back seat to the pursuit of the weird and wonderful – all in the Name of Jesus and the Kingdom of God, of course. I’m speaking from personal experience here – please don’t think that I’m just assuming things here; and I know for sure that I’m not the only one! So what we do from there is that we naturally seek to somehow attach our own agendas to the faith teaching we have been given. The thinking is something like, “If God can do that for him – then he can do this for me.” But of course, this line of thinking assumes that we know what God has planned for us and that we really need those things to happen in our lives; it also assumes that we can discern the formulas and principles we need to achieve our aims, based on the faith teaching and testimonies that we read or hear.
So there is the assumption that we need something totally far-and-above our everyday experiences as part of our Christian experience. When you are in charismatic circles, there is such an emphasis on miracles that you almost feel like a failure, or at least that you are not doing things right, if you are not experiencing miracles on a fairly regular basis.
God’s Generals
In 1996 the American evangelist Roberts Liardon’s book God’s Generals was published. God’s Generals profiles the lives and ministry of men and women throughout the past hundred years or so who have experienced incredible miracles: people such as John G. Lake, Smith Wigglesworth and Aimee Semple McPherson. I remember feel rather awe inspired as I read that book (when I was still in my charismatic, miracle-hunting phase). There is something amazing about God performing miracles in the lives of people, and doubtless, people’s lives are likely to be changed as a result. But where do you and I stand in all of this? How are we to interpret all of this in the perspective of our own normal, Christian lives? Are we also to do the same amazing things as these men and women of God?
If you come to the conclusion that you are indeed meant to be just like these “God’s Generals”, performing miracles and changing lives around you through the supernatural – I think you will be caught-up in a flight of fancy. Miracles do happen and I have no doubt that they have had their place in the lives of people like Smith Wigglesworth. But we can easily conclude that if we are not “used” by God in the same way as Wigglesworth, we must be missing something, or worse still, God does not love us. Miracles are, by definition, rare; it is the height of folly to seek after miracles and to feel disappointed when they don’t happen. I believe that miracles happen as and when they do. When we attempt to identify and pursue formulas to manifest miracles – we just end-up wearing ourselves out as we are left “chasing the wind”.
The “Harvest Mentality” and High Expectations
As I said previously, many who come to the message of grace have first gone through the charismatic phase of miracles, praying for revival, following principles and so forth. What I find is that many such Christians carry some of these Pentecostal traits and expectations with them into the message of grace. There is still the expectation of miracles, wealth and reaping a “harvest”; there is still the anticipation of God “using” you: by that statement, believers hold onto the expectation that God is going to do something over-and-beyond the norm of everyday existence. All of these expectations are from an Old Testament mindset, in which we associate with Moses and the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea and so on. There were miracles performed in the New Testament, through Jesus and the Apostles. But these were all part of ministry, I believe.
The question of miracles in today’s society is a subject that is frequency discussed amongst Christians. We certainly should not use miracles as a measuring rod of God’s love for us or our level of faith. I believe that when it comes to living the Christian life in these New Testament times, it has a lot more to do with normal, everyday life than we could ever imagine.
I believe that the miracles we read about in the Bible are for the purpose of taking our limits off God, more than anything else. Miracles are more the domain of ministry: when I hear that grace preacher Bertie Brits has performed miracles during a crusade in Malawi, I don’t roll my eyes and say to myself, “Oh, here we go again, another miracle working preacher.” No, I am delighted to see the power of God in the life and ministry of this man; I delight in that fact that God is confirming His Word being preached. But what I don’t do is think to myself, “How can I do the same kind of miracles in my life? I should be ministering with an anointing like that man. If I had enough faith – then I’d be able to minister with the same anointing and power as that man.” There is a place for miracles, and I believe it is mainly in ministry to confirm the Word being preached. Although, if miracles don’t follow the Word being preached, that is no sign that the preaching was not powerful, accurate and relevant (despite what Kenneth E. Hagin wrote on the subject).
Seeing the Beauty and Value in Everyday Life
I think normal life is not exciting enough for some Christians; they want to way-out, over-the-top stuff that they hear some evangelists come out with. But the truth of the matter is that there is something truly amazing in everyday life. It really does come down to our own beliefs, attitudes and mindsets as to how wonderful life is for us. It is just like when we fall in love: before we fall in love with someone, we could be feeling rather melancholy, but then, we fall in love with someone, and all of a sudden, everything changes! All of a sudden we are transformed from a grumpy, cynical person, into someone who is smiling and singing. Love seems to make the grass greener, the sky bluer; we notice things that we never noticed before: the birds singing in the trees, the beauty of a single raindrop, taking a walk in a park as the leaves fall from the trees in the fall. Nothing has changed externally in your life – the only change has been internal – in your heart, in your outlook on life.
God Will Guide You
We read in the New Testament that God will lead you and guide you by the Holy Spirit (John 14:26, Luke 12:12, Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:18). I think Ezekiel 36 makes it clearer and starker that any text in the New Testament:
25 "'Then it will be as though I had sprinkled clean water on you, for you will be clean--your filthiness will be washed away, your idol worship gone. 26 And I will give you a new heart--I will give you new and right desires--and put a new spirit within you. I will take out your stony hearts of sin and give you new hearts of love. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you so that you will obey my laws and do whatever I command.
Ezekiel 36:25-27 TLB
I think every Christian has a different take on what this text really adds up to and how we experience it in our lives of faith in Christ. But I must admit that right at this moment in time, I cannot help but feel that it is a lot closer to the normal, everyday existence that we are used to and perhaps often take for granted. I think this text points towards natural impulses, common-sense and intuition. There is no need to pray for hours on a holy mountain, waiting for the burning bush to appear. Neither is there a need to seek out a wise, all-knowing guru who will tell you the wisdom of God. The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21).
Emotions and Sensationalism
Likewise, we also expect something way-out and over-the-top when it comes to our emotions. We attend big gatherings of believers with musicians and preachers who have the ability to strike a chord in our hearts and move us to tears or feelings of ecstasy. Just as with miracles, signs and wonders – there is a sense that if God was truly in our lives, we would experience euphoria on a day-to-day basis. The natural assumption, when we don’t experience these dramatic feelings, is that we are somehow not getting the formulas and principles right: perhaps there is too much sin in our lives, we are not praying enough or we haven’t got enough faith.
There are sometimes moments of ecstasy in our lives: when we meet a loved one, we have not seen for a while, when your wife gives birth to your child or declares that she is pregnant, when you are given news of your promotion at work and so on. But those feelings often don’t last. I think a more realistic approach to the emotional state of the New Testament, Christian believer, is a sustained state of peace, happy, but nothing incredible; this is then interspersed by moment of euphoria and sometimes moments of sadness, whether those moments are triggered by an external experience or not.
I strongly believe that anxiety is something that we are not to experience as Christians, or if we do, it is on our journey into spiritual maturity and peace. In John 14:27 Jesus Himself promised us peace. The Gospel is called the “Gospel of Peace” (Romans 10:15, Ephesians 6:15). I’ve struggled with anxiety all my life and can vouch for the fact that it is horrid! I think that it is a true sign of spiritual maturity when a Christian comes to the place in which they see peace of mind as their one and only goal in this life (or at least their main goal).
There are also moments of euphoria when Christians gather together in large groups and God seems to be moving in your midst. But I often wonder if those feelings of ecstasy and the goose-bumps are nothing more than emotionalism: just like what you would experience at a rock concern?
For more information on the subject of feelings associated with the presence of God, check out the latest Free Believers Network podcast entitled Redefining the Presence of God, 2nd June 2010. For more information on the subject of Christians and their addiction to sensationalism in the church, check out The Free Believers Network podcast entitled The Lust of Sensationalism, 14th April 2010.
7 comments:
Paul S, I believe your statement about the institutional church is rather sweeping. While there are churches that are too much men centred (meaning deferring to men rather than to God), really to say that they mess with your head generally is rather uncalled for. More so, your particular pointing to the Charismatic Church is misinformed. I suppose we cannot please everybody if everybody is entitled to assume whatever stand they want, and not the stand according to what is written in the Bible.
The point many people do not understand is that we need to have a yardstick for looking at things. Again, Paul S, you might say it is another subtle term for rules, but if there is no yardstick, we can go round and round until the cow comes home, so to speak.
In order, we do not cover everything under the sun, let us confirm our discussions to Christians and Christianity. Anyway, I think I am not wrong to say that this is a Christian blog site, and we are taking about our faith as Christians. Also, it is not my intention to dwell into other faiths or religions or to express my opinions on other religions. What is the yardstick that we should be using here? One may say, “God”, but for practical sense, the word, “God” alone cannot help us much. What is most akin to God? The Bible. Yes, the Bible is to be the yardstick that we use, because it is the Word of God, because it is God’s revelation of Himself to us. Although, we cannot fathom the whole of God, we make do with what He has shown us in the Word.
There are nowadays, too many representations everywhere, particularly on the internet, insinuating that God is not the same God; that God changes fickle-mindedly, as if the Old Testament God and the New Testament God are not the same, insinuating that there are multiple gospels, or that there isn’t enough consistency to the whole Word of God. These are very wrong.
Jesus said that the Word of God is food for us; but if we pick and choose like we pick and choose our physical food, taking only the palatable ones, and casting aside the distasteful ones, we are not going to accept the whole counsel of Word of God as the yardstick. For all Christians, the Word has to be the anchor of our lives; otherwise we will just drift away when the waves hit us. In order that the Word be a strong anchor for us, we must make it a life-long endeavor to understand the Word.
If you have become a Christian, you have chosen your yardstick. And if you have chosen your yardstick, please don’t go attacking or tearing down your yardstick, every now and then. Just accept it and try to understand it and use it properly to weigh matters.
go to next comment for continuation
continuation 1
The premise must be that there is only one God, and as the Word of God tells us, that same God is a God who changes not. Of course it does not mean nothing changes with God, that is not what it meant. The obvious thing it is saying is that God is not fickle-minded. Next it is saying that our God is a consistent God. The problem with most people is that they do not really understand what that meant. Let me explain:
I tell people I do not change. What do I mean by that? Of course, I change, but what I am saying is that the way I weigh things is the same - I weigh everything against the Word of God. So when God does not change, or that He is being consistent, it really means that He weighs everything against “something”. What is this “something”? Before, I say what this something is, let us see what the Word of God says concerning swearing or making of an oath.
Men swear by something or someone bigger than them. What about God? Did God ever swear in the Bible? Yes, He did. How did He swear? Because there was none greater than He, He swore by His own name. God uses Himself to make oaths.
From swearing we come back to God’s consistency yardstick; I am saying, for consistency, God uses Himself as the yardstick. But what of Himself is He measuring against. I believe it would be His core or very nature, and that is holiness. We reject thing that is inconsistent with the Word of God, that is what we are saying when we say we are using the Word of God as the yardstick. Similarly, when God is using his very nature, holiness, as the yardstick, anything that violates His holiness, He will say no. God is the source of life, and He is holiness. If He allows Himself to be violated; the source of life will be violated. If God ends, the source ends, and there cannot be life possible. God therefore will never permit that. When the Word of God said that God does not change, it really means that God is consistent, and in His consistency, His very own nature, holiness is the ultimate yardstick. Because God is consistent, His Word is consistent and the latter is a good yardstick for our lives. God has a plan, and He has the wisdom of execution; and so the Word of God is not only good, it is trustworthy. This is how the angel who talked with John in the Book of Revelation is implying about the Word of God, it is trustworthy.
continuation 2
The charismatic movement is not from the Old Testament, neither is it “It is very much an Old Testament approach”. The Charismatic movement is a New Testament approach. Please Paul S, it is too sweeping. Although there are a number of main line groups of Protestants, we all share the core beliefs, and although we do not directly profess it, all the main line groups believe that the Christian faith has at the centre of it, commandments, laws or precepts. I do not know from where it cometh the teaching that grace means that God’s instructions or commandments are no longer relevant. God is one, the gospel is one, there is no separate gospel of grace that so many people are making thing out to be. If you want to call that one and only one gospel, the gospel of grace is fine, but do not talk about things as to suggest there are different gospels that different Christians are following. When we, Christians do that, we are just confusing the pre-believers. There is only one gospel, but there are many lopsided teachings around, which is bad enough without new gospels being preached. I believe charismatic people did not believe a different gospel, it is the same gospel of Jesus Christ, and is the same gospel other orthodox Christians believe in, it is just that they are more embracing of the entirety of the teachings of Jesus or the New Testament, and that include Jesus’ teaching of signs and wonders and miracles.
The concept of a far and distant God has nothing to do with the Charismatic movement or their teachings. Please, all Christians of some maturity would know you have to read the Bible, pray, and get your life right. It is nothing to do with the Charismatic. If you did not know the reason for reading and gaining understanding of the Bible, I have just given you one of the important reasons in the paragraphs above i.e. the Word is your yardstick. Jesus prayed, and Jesus taught us how to pray, we all ought to pray, and honestly, we prayed too little, and that included yours truly. Yah, God is holy. Do you know what was repeated, day and night, before the throne of the Almighty God? Go read the Book of Revelation on the scene of the throne. So, if your God is holy, don’t you think you should at least try not to sin, or in other words, live right? Please, you mean it is alright for you to steal and kill and destroy?
go to next comment for continuation
continuation 3
One of the correct gleanings from Old Testament which I can accept and subscribe to is that not all the Israelites are Moses; of course, the majority of the people lived so-called ordinary lives. It has nothing to do with the Charismatic. Christians generally know that, and obviously I am not saying there is a way all Christians can be like Moses. But do you know that the Bible recorded clearly for us that so many of the so-called ordinary Israelites lived lives displeasing God? By all means we live our ordinary lives, yet watch our lives so that firstly, it does not displease God, secondly, we do not stumble others. Please do not tell me that God cannot be displeased. Let me say that even in our ordinary lives, we can serve God (actually, one is to serve God, but for you, I say you can). You have not the proper view of ministry and service, God has not expected you and I to be Billy Graham, I believe at the end of day, many of us would be surprised where Billy Graham stands visa-vis many other obscure people (no disrespect intended for Mr Billy Graham). Paul S, it is no point to talk about the heart-condition, if one is not even prepared to lift a finger to do something which pleases the Lord whom we claim we love. The things you said of the Charismatic are wrong. I am a Charismatic, but it really did not mean anything, except that, by that people seem to understand that I speak in tongue and believe in the manifestations of gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. Paul S, one does not necessarily, not do a thing just because it is difficult. I love my God, and out of that love I try to refrain from things that displeases Him, and try to do the things that pleases Him, and seek His will for my life. It is coming from love, not fear. These are not easy things to do, but I do not stop trying just because it is not easy, but rather I do them because they are the right things to do out of my heart-condition of love of our God.
Paul S, there is much that one can learn about God from the Old Testament. I learn more about God from the Old Testament than the New Testament. Do not brush off the Old Testament. Another thing, while we, including all servants of God (actually we are all servants of God), are still learning, do not belittle the testimonies of servants of God (We can challenge their interpretation of the Word, but generally, not their testimonies). Of course, there are those who seek after the signs and wonders and miracles with wrong motives, but generally, those who yearn for the unction to have God performs miracles have the interest of the recipients in mind. You may not know and understand the release of pains and suffering, the joy and thankfulness that people have for God’s supernatural ministering to them. We rejoice with them to see they are blessed by God’s supernatural intervention in their lives, be it, in healing or other miracles.
go to next comment for continuation
continuation 4
I am not a pastor, I am not with any theological degree, I am not a staff of a church. I am an ordinary Christian of over 20 years. I move in the Words of Knowledge a little, in the area of healing, and I pray for the sick (and any other needs) regularly. Not all were healed or being ministered to, but there are enough who were. But I do not stop doing just because not everyone is healed, or that it entails sacrifice of my time and energy. Also it was only after many, many years since I became a Christian that the Lord started using me in this manner. I am not saying that if God can do that for me, He will do exactly the same for you. Actually, even if people said the thinking that you referred to, they really meant to encourage people to seek to Lord for such gifting or service callings. We all know if we still do not move in such and such a service calling, it is all possible that God has something else in mind for us or He has His reasons. The problem lies in you if you are too quick to be utterly disappointed or thought that God does not love you enough to give you such unction. It is not like that.
Paul S, you are just in the midst of immature Christians, that is all; it got nothing to do with Charismatic looking down on people who cannot get God to perform miracles or do not experience miracles in their lives. Mature Christians, including the Charismatic ones, should understand that there is still the fruit of the Spirit, as listed in the Book of Galatians. People manifest the fruit of the Spirit, without all the fanfare, and so, men did not notice, but God sees everything, and such are credited to them. There is a place for both (gift and fruit), but in all cases, glory must be ascribed back to God. If no one looks down on you, but you feel like a failure, it is you, and so you need to deal with it positively. For many, many years I had yearned to be able to pray for the sick, but was unable; had I given up, and discarded Jesus’ teachings on the supernatural, I would have missed the things that I am now doing.
Paul S, I can’t help but to comment that you should try not so much to distill formulas for blessings and unction; rather you should try to gain understanding of the ways of God. Furthermore, it is part and parcel of your love for Him. Perhaps, then He might open up more things to you. Loving God is life-long thing, and pursuing the things of God is also a life-long thing, pace yourself and you will not end up wearing yourself out. It is definitely a worthwhile thing and not a “chasing the wind” as you put it.
go to next comment for continuation
continuation 5
I do not know what separate message of grace you are referring to, but Paul S, if it is Christianity that you are talking about, the totality of Christianity is not just grace and grace only. It is not so much that the people, and they are not necessarily charismatic, as you are most inclined to paint, are misled but it is you are trying to distill down the whole of Christianity to grace. That is not how it should be. Yes, central to the Christian faith is grace, and all mature Christians, non-charismatic and charismatic, alike, should know that, but you are insisting that Christianity should be nothing more than passivity, with no God instructions and commands, and discipline, a free to do what you want or do nothing, kind of faith. Don’t keep hitting the Old Testament, there is nothing wrong there, and most people after a while, learn what is still applicable (and much still are) and what are no longer applicable because they have been specifically set aside by Jesus’ works on the cross. There is nothing wrong with one not needing a miracle. If you do not need a miracle, thank God, because you are ok in life, but we should not be proud, or have no compassion for those who are afflicted in lives.
Such things as helping people to have an understanding of the gospel so that they can be saved, helping the poor and needy, the widows and orphans, extending God’s compassion to others in afflictions in lives, including praying and interceding for them are some of the things that Christians ought to do out of their love for God, a part of aligning our heart to that of the heart of God. As Christians, we are all in ministry, even in our ordinary lives. By your lives, no matter how ordinary they may be, you can serve God by your handling of your daily affairs. Some housewives, I tell you, might rank above Bill Graham in service (no disrespect intended for Mr Billy Graham). You got to believe you are in ministry in your ordinary lives, and when you have right beliefs, accompanied by threshold busting convictions, your faith would move into a living faith, and living faith is pleasing to God. Thereof, it is up to Him, if He will do a miracle. In both Jesus’ and the Apostles’ times, miracles happened to people in their ordinary lives. Do not write off miracles happening in the everyday lives of people, your job, and my job, is to be willing to be the pleasing vessels for God, the rest is up to the wisdom and sovereignty of God.
go to next comment for continuation
continuation 6
If you can see the blessedness of everyday life, it is indeed very good. A lot of people, do not know how blessed they are already, in their ordinary lives. If you truly understood that the Lord has been good to you; and that truly in your ordinary life, you are thankful for His blessings and faithfulness towards you, then look around and help those afflicted in lives, in the name of the Lord. May you then develop a heart of compassion strong enough to seek miracles for those in need of them.
Even in the selfish love of a man with a woman, the man seeks to please the woman, and vice versa. If one loves God, it should not just show up with preoccupation with one’s own “happiness” and stop there (that is selfishness), but would seek also to please one’s lover, God. When we act from love (God’s love and our love for God), it is whole different ball game, so to speak. It is a labour of love! We are saved by grace, but labour of love is greatly exhorted by Jesus.
It is important that we have the whole counsel of the Word of God which is our yardstick for life.
Paul S, if you do not mind, you can give me your email address so that I can communicate via email to you, instead of commenting on this blog. You can get my email address by clicking on my name on top of my comment boxes (it will bring you to my profile page). While I would like to balance out your writings, it is not my intention to "shoot" people down. We can go personal and not public if I have your email address.
Do not be disheartened but learn. May God bless your learning of Him. God, may you continue to reveal your truths to this brother.
Post a Comment