Again, this article is a warning. We are focused on protecting ourselves from error. It is never about who is right, but rather what is right.
Why is this so important?
2 Peter 3:16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
If we twist or distort the Scriptures to our desire we do so to our own destruction.
2 Peter 1:20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
The apostles weren’t giving us their own interpretations or opinions and we aren’t allowed to do that either. We have to read God’s word God’s way believing what He has revealed to us. Not what we want to believe.
Error Watch #2: Pentecostalism
We are not necessarily talking about the churches named Pentecostal, but rather the movements that are charismatic in nature, experience based, emotionally governed, seemingly miraculous.
There are numerous things we could discuss in regard to these movements, but we are going to restrict ourselves to three aspects that are taught in these movements in this article.
First Aspect: Modern Day Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit
Perhaps one of the most fascinating things we read in the Bible are the miracles. Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead! The disciples he left behind did many of those same things. They even spoke in foreign tongues that they had never learned, prophesied revealing God’s will. What an amazing time and yet, today people often look back on that and misunderstand why that was happening.
Hebrews 2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
These gifts were given for a very specific purpose. To testify to God’s will. To reveal and confirm what God wants from our lives as His servants. Everything else that occurred was just a good by-product.
1 Corinthians 13:8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
What is “the perfect?”
Let me explain using the following illustration:
If I gave you a part of an apple pie what would the whole thing be? Well, it wouldn’t be a baseball glove or a roast beef sandwich. In fact, it wouldn’t even be a pecan pie. It would be a whole apple pie.
The part is the same as the whole.
In our passage, there was something in part, but the complete, the whole, the perfect was coming. The part was the miraculous gifts God used to testify, reveal and confirm His will. But it was in part. The whole. The perfect, therefore would be the complete revealed will of God.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
When we have “All Scripture” we have everything we need for every good work.
Once the entirety of the Bible was revealed we had the whole. We had the complete. We no longer need the part. And at that point the gifts ceased.
The Holy Spirit no longer uses them today. Of course, He is capable.
I am not pointing out that God can’t do something, but rather that God said He would no longer do something. Explaining this to somebody who has based their entire religion on their experiences and feelings can be challenging, which leads us to our second aspect of these movements.
Second Aspect: The Authority of Experience
Many people in these charismatic movements base the authority of what they are doing on experience. This experience can be anything from supposedly seeing someone healed of cancer all the way to having a warm tingly feeling in a prayer one day.
But what amazes me is how often these experiences are used to confirm something that is opposed to what is clearly taught in the Scriptures.
What should we say about these seemingly miraculous experiences?
I don’t want to argue with people. I don’t want to tell them they didn’t have any experiences. I just think we should look at Matthew 7:22-23.
Matthew 7:22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Here were people who had experiences. They believed they had prophesied, cast out demons, and had done mighty works in the name of Jesus Christ.
However, Jesus said I never knew you! Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
You see the problem?
They were basing their religion on man’s experiences and not God’s law.
God’s law. God’s word. That is the standard.
Third Aspect: The Government of Emotions
So much of modern religion today is governed by how we feel and our emotions. Especially in the charismatic movements. There concept of feeling and emotions has been elevated to the status of revelation.
There are so many people today that believe their feelings, their intuitions, their emotions are actually the Holy Spirit working inside of them to direct them in how they should go.
There is a problem with that.
First, God has never in the Bible or in modern times directed people by their feelings or their emotions.
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
If we are trusting in our feelings we are not heading in the right path.
Certainly God revealed His will miraculously to people at one time, but even at those times when He gave prophecies and revelations it was in order for it to be written down so we could read it and understand it.
Ephesians 3:3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
“You can perceive my insight.” You can understand it. It has been revealed. We can understand it. This is our standard. God’s word.
God repeatedly tells us His word is our standard. If anything else is our standard we are not serving Him.
Keep the faith today.
And join me here next week as we examine our last error watch.