Rightly dividing the word of Truth (V) The Word and Spirit (II)

I said last day that I embraced the things of the Spirit in spite of the church that nurtured me, not because of it. This church was and still is very skeptical especially of the experiences and manifestations that are often part of the meetings of Charismatic or Pentecostal churches. Now I for one do not want to claim that every experience, or everything that happens is of the Lord. But what is surly true is that wherever the Lord is at work so is the fellow with the pitchfork (the Devil likes that ridiculous characterization of himself, because we can then more easily dismiss him)! It has been suggested that as much as 2/3 of what goes on is fake, but even if this is the case, then we have 1/3 genuine, and that is a lot of genuine!

I certainly shared at least some of the skepticism of the church that nurtured me. The so called being “slain in the Spirit,” where people would fall to the floor “under the power of the Spirit,” seemed ridiculous to me. But I remember praying “Lord if You have something for me that will help me in my Christain walk, then I want it.” Then while visiting some rather radical friends, I found myself on the floor after being prayed for. And there on the floor I was saying “Lord You know I don’t believe in this, because I do not see it in Your Word.” But then He showed me, for example “The priests were not able to stand … because of the glory of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 5:14 - see also Revelation 1:17; Ezekiel 1:28; Daniel 8:17-18, 10:7-9).

In fact, I took the last set of Scriptural references from an article on line, claiming this phenomenon is not Biblical! Part of the refutation is that in some of these references people fell on their faces, whereas in may of the meetings people fall backwards. To me this is just picky, but in any case several of the reference does not specify how they fell! The same (negative) article says “It is unfortunate that people look to such bizarre counterfeits that produce no spiritual fruit.” Again not claiming it is all genuine, but the case of Heidi Baker comes to mind. Heidi came to Catch the Fire Toronto a worn out, seriously ill missionary. She fell to the floor while being prophesied over by Randy Clark. When she eventually got up, she was healed and returned to Mozambique where under her and her husband’s leadership, the Lord birthed over 10,000 new churches! And that is just the tip of the iceberg (Google Iris Global). No Spiritual fruit? Really?

Father, it is too easy to let pride or fear or whatever rob us of the gifts and the help that we so desperately need, in order to live the Christian life. Help me Lord not to settle for anything less than all that You have for me, even if many of Your people do not understand. Please Lord give each one of us the gift of discernment to know what is truly of You and what is not, then to embrace the good and reject the bad. And we will give You all the honour and all the Glory in Jesus Name Amen