Post by Daniel on Mar 4, 2016 10:07:31 GMT -5
The Great Sin of the Charismatic Church
By Michael Brown, CP Op-Ed Contributor
March 3, 2016
As I write these words, I am literally on my knees, praying as I write.
I am more burdened than angry, more broken than frustrated.
How can we be so foolish?
I am an unashamed Charismatic-Pentecostal believer, a lifelong tongues speaker (since January 24, 1972), one of the four principle leaders who served in the Brownsville Revival, the author of an in-depth, scholarly treatment of divine healing, the man who wrote Authentic Fire in response to Pastor John MacArthur's Strange Fire.
I am an insider, not an outsider, and for me the Bible is a charismatic book from cover to cover, undeniably so. In fact, from 1977 to early-1982, during a season of spiritual coldness and intellectual pride, I tried to deny the things of the Spirit, wanting to distance myself from what I felt were the abuses and errors of the Pentecostal movement. But the testimony of the Word was too clear for me to deny and the Spirit's work in my life too strong for me to resist.
Yet I am terribly ashamed of our folly, our gullibility, our lack of discernment, our failure to test all things by the Word, our carnality, our openness to be duped and deceived and defrauded.
With good reason men like Pastor MacArthur have taken aim at us, even if their criticisms were unbalanced and inaccurate. We provided them with all too many worthy targets.
God help us!
As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "You put up with it when someone enslaves you, takes everything you have, takes advantage of you, takes control of everything, and slaps you in the face" (2 Cor. 11:20 NLT).
That sounds like so many of us.
Quite a few years ago, I had to stop watching certain Christian TV shows (or even networks) because of the corrupt fund raising that would take place, as biblical holy days were exploited for sacrificial offerings and manipulative fund raisers worked their magic. (I'm not mentioning names here because I've tried to reach out to some of these men privately and will do so again before saying more.)
I once saw a well-known fund raiser preaching passionately on Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, only to turn his powerful message into a plea for funds. What a repulsive perversion of this sacred time in the Savior's life.
The fact that this kind of stuff "works" means nothing to be. To the contrary, it only adds to the culpability of the fund raiser and of the network using his services.
Shame on them all for their actions.
Last year, a strong critic of the charismatic movement wrote to me with respect and grace, almost pleading with me to denounce what he had just seen on TV.
A "prophet" made an appearance on a well-known Christian program, declaring that there would be a devastating disaster that would take place in the next month but that all who would give $1,000 would be spared from that disaster, along with their families, including even their grandchildren.
This is an abomination, and it is in complete violation of the letter and spirit of prophetic ministry in the Bible. In fact, according to some of the earliest teaching of the Church outside of the New Testament itself, any prophet claiming to speak in the Spirit and saying, "Give me money" is a false prophet (see the Didache, Chapter 11). And the prophesied disaster never took place, adding to the fraud.
But has he been called to account for this by his TV network? Has the leader who hosted him been confronted on this?
Perhaps something was said behind the scenes — I would certainly hope so; I wrote to one of the people involved myself — but nothing was repudiated publicly, and the corrupt game just goes on and on.
In the words associated with circus showman P. T. Barnum (said either by him or about him), "There's a sucker born every minute."
This holds true in our "Spirit-filled" circles.
There are preachers on TV today who were either exposed or sued for their fraudulent practices (like claiming to receive "words of knowledge" about audience members while the information was actually being relayed via a hidden earpiece), and yet they're still on the air, raking in their money and providing "testimonies" galore to validate their work.
When will we learn?
It's one thing for a leader to confess his sin, to be repentant, and to be restored.
It's another thing for the same person to keep fleecing the flock over and over again without enough people catching on to put him out of business.
continue reading
www.christianpost.com/news/sin-charismatic-church-bible-holy-spirit-pentecostal-speak-tongues-158866/
By Michael Brown, CP Op-Ed Contributor
March 3, 2016
As I write these words, I am literally on my knees, praying as I write.
I am more burdened than angry, more broken than frustrated.
How can we be so foolish?
I am an unashamed Charismatic-Pentecostal believer, a lifelong tongues speaker (since January 24, 1972), one of the four principle leaders who served in the Brownsville Revival, the author of an in-depth, scholarly treatment of divine healing, the man who wrote Authentic Fire in response to Pastor John MacArthur's Strange Fire.
I am an insider, not an outsider, and for me the Bible is a charismatic book from cover to cover, undeniably so. In fact, from 1977 to early-1982, during a season of spiritual coldness and intellectual pride, I tried to deny the things of the Spirit, wanting to distance myself from what I felt were the abuses and errors of the Pentecostal movement. But the testimony of the Word was too clear for me to deny and the Spirit's work in my life too strong for me to resist.
Yet I am terribly ashamed of our folly, our gullibility, our lack of discernment, our failure to test all things by the Word, our carnality, our openness to be duped and deceived and defrauded.
With good reason men like Pastor MacArthur have taken aim at us, even if their criticisms were unbalanced and inaccurate. We provided them with all too many worthy targets.
God help us!
As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "You put up with it when someone enslaves you, takes everything you have, takes advantage of you, takes control of everything, and slaps you in the face" (2 Cor. 11:20 NLT).
That sounds like so many of us.
Quite a few years ago, I had to stop watching certain Christian TV shows (or even networks) because of the corrupt fund raising that would take place, as biblical holy days were exploited for sacrificial offerings and manipulative fund raisers worked their magic. (I'm not mentioning names here because I've tried to reach out to some of these men privately and will do so again before saying more.)
I once saw a well-known fund raiser preaching passionately on Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, only to turn his powerful message into a plea for funds. What a repulsive perversion of this sacred time in the Savior's life.
The fact that this kind of stuff "works" means nothing to be. To the contrary, it only adds to the culpability of the fund raiser and of the network using his services.
Shame on them all for their actions.
Last year, a strong critic of the charismatic movement wrote to me with respect and grace, almost pleading with me to denounce what he had just seen on TV.
A "prophet" made an appearance on a well-known Christian program, declaring that there would be a devastating disaster that would take place in the next month but that all who would give $1,000 would be spared from that disaster, along with their families, including even their grandchildren.
This is an abomination, and it is in complete violation of the letter and spirit of prophetic ministry in the Bible. In fact, according to some of the earliest teaching of the Church outside of the New Testament itself, any prophet claiming to speak in the Spirit and saying, "Give me money" is a false prophet (see the Didache, Chapter 11). And the prophesied disaster never took place, adding to the fraud.
But has he been called to account for this by his TV network? Has the leader who hosted him been confronted on this?
Perhaps something was said behind the scenes — I would certainly hope so; I wrote to one of the people involved myself — but nothing was repudiated publicly, and the corrupt game just goes on and on.
In the words associated with circus showman P. T. Barnum (said either by him or about him), "There's a sucker born every minute."
This holds true in our "Spirit-filled" circles.
There are preachers on TV today who were either exposed or sued for their fraudulent practices (like claiming to receive "words of knowledge" about audience members while the information was actually being relayed via a hidden earpiece), and yet they're still on the air, raking in their money and providing "testimonies" galore to validate their work.
When will we learn?
It's one thing for a leader to confess his sin, to be repentant, and to be restored.
It's another thing for the same person to keep fleecing the flock over and over again without enough people catching on to put him out of business.
continue reading
www.christianpost.com/news/sin-charismatic-church-bible-holy-spirit-pentecostal-speak-tongues-158866/