Wednesday, January 11, 2012

It’s been a very busy end of the year with multiple worships (all good!) to prepare for. I received a question from a gentleman and I would like to share my response here:

“What do you think about the New Apostolic Reformation and the teachings of its leader, Charles Peter Wagner?”

Charles Peter Wagner was a professor at Fuller when I went to school there. He was very supportive of the charismatic movement then and held classes on casting out demons and binding the territorial evil spirits. He and John Wimber, founder of Vineyard Fellowship, taught classes together and really promoted the charismatic movement.

By “charismatic movement,” I am talking about something that came out of the “pentecostal movement.” In simplistic terms, pentecostal movement is about receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues while praying. The charismatic movement went further on the power and activity of the Holy Spirit and emphasized healing and other greater powers/gifts that can be gotten. This movement has gone into the emphasis on prophecy (most teach that everyone is given the gift of prophecy, but they must learn to use it), physical healing, deliverance from demon possessions, and various manifestations of the Holy Spirit. If you were to go to one of their services, you will see these “manifestations” in variety of ways -- people swaying back and forth, people praying or laughing or making strange noises or doing something uncontrollably for minutes or hours.

All those things are rather personal. And that was the focus of the charismatic movement at its beginning. The focus was on the worshiper receiving something from the Holy Spirit through worship – a gift of speaking in tongue, a gift of healing, a gift of prophecy, a gift of this or gift of that. You probably know of several churches in your area that do this. Many missionaries belong to this movement (many come from the US, Great Britain, and Australia). Which organizations belong to this movement? The largest of these is International House of Prayer (IHOP) and their One Thing conferences. Also YWAM.

This movement has tried to correct themselves from being self-centered. One of the developments was the partnership of IHOP and YWAM. IHOP is about prayer and receiving from God. YWAM is a missionary organization. They’ve partnered up so that YWAM sends their missionaries to IHOP and IHOP is challenged to missions through YWAM.

Another development of looking outward is the formation of this New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) by Wagner. As YWAM is about missions, NAR is about politics. NAR believes that the society is evil and it is under the control of the devil. It believes that its rulers and governments officials are agents of the devil and get their orders from him. They believe there are “territorial spirits” of evil that affect the minds and actions of people. In Mongolia, for example, the NAR might say that the demonic spirit uses vodka to bind the minds and hearts of your men. Or they might say night clubs and dance halls and prostitutions are demonic works.

NAR wants to mobilize Christians to vote for Christian politicians and support them through prayer. They want to mobilize churches to pray and cast out territorial demons. They want the churches to gather and oppose the works of the devil. They want to change the society to become Christian.

Okay. My assessment and criticism.

It is wrong to overly criticize any Christian movement. Some people go overboard and call them unChristian or demonic. The internet is filled with hateful languages that attack the charismatic movement. I believe that is very wrong and they grieve the Holy Spirit. In God’s kingdom there is room for a variety of understandings of the Bible and God’s work. And I believe there is room for charismatics, as there is room for Presbyterians and Baptists and all the other expressions of Christian faith. I think they are doing great work in the name of God and they are reaching people that traditional Christian groups are unable to, or unwilling to, reach.

Did you notice I separated them from the “traditional Christian groups”? By traditional Christian groups I mean Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, etc. Charismatic movement is not “traditional” in that sense. The traditional groups have not valued the sending of the Holy Spirit to the churches and the power that he brings. And while the charge is overly general, traditional churches have also been blind to the works of the devil. The churches did church without tapping into the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit, and without recognizing what Paul described as, “the cosmic powers of this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). I think that’s an apt criticism. The pentecostal movement and the charismatic movement are about awaking the church to the power available to them through the Holy Spirit and to awaken the church to the presence and works of the devil. The Bible talks about the devil as being very active, but the traditional churches never talk about him. The pentecostals and charismatics have caused the traditional church to recognize this error, and that’s good.

They have also helped the traditional churches to understand that they are not doing a good job in evangelism. The traditional churches are losing members very quickly. My denomination, the PC(USA) has lost over 50% membership in the last 50 years! We are talking about from over 4 million members in 1960 to less than 2 million members now! But the pentecostal and charismatic churches are increasing in membership! They are doing something right and the traditional churches are not. They are forcing the traditional churches to use other senses to experience God. The traditional churches know God through their heads; these other churches experience God through their hearts and bodies. They are experiencing God as truly being living and active! That’s very good.

Now for my criticisms. Some of the leaders of the pentecostal and charismatic movements have committed great sins while they were on top of ministry. The most famous of them are Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, Paul Cain, and Todd Bentley are some of the leading leaders at one time. You can look them up on Google and read their stories. The problem is not their sins (many pastors in traditional churches sin greatly as well), but their bold claims to being so close to God that they hear His voice clearly and know His heart and will. They present themselves in such grandiose light that their falls are significant. Also, they are too quick to return to the pulpit.

Also, there is a sense that this movement lacks biblical teaching. Whatever people sense and feel, they are encouraged to do. In this sense, they lack control. If they believe that the Holy Spirit is active, but also that the devil is active, there should be more care to ensure it is the Holy Spirit and not the devil that are influencing the person. Some of the actions of people under the manifestations of the Spirit are truly awkward. Making strange noises, acting like animals, shaking and laughing and jerking...they don’t look like the work of the Holy Spirit who gives us peace and order.

So what am I getting at? I don’t want to discourage anyone from speaking in tongues or enjoying the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The traditional churches, by and large, have neglected this. One of these days, I plan on visiting IHOP or attending one of their regional conferences.

But at the same time, I would be careful to go further than that. I think there are errors in their teaching about prophetic gifts. And I don’t agree that people ought to be giving such titles as prophets and apostles. And their end time teachings, I don’t agree in many respects.

Did I answer it to your liking? You probably have 1,000 more questions, now.
One more thing I don’t agree with NAR and Wagner. He’s got this very structured understanding of the Devil and his kingdom. Some of that does not originate from Scripture. The Bible says that the devil is real and he’s got a kingdom and demons that work under him. That’s true. But territorial demons? And demons seemingly being present everywhere? Holy Spirit is God and so he is everywhere. But demons are creatures. They have a number and they don’t multiply. They can’t be everywhere at all times. I think too much of what goes on is attributed to the devil.

A good story:

2009, at Tala Village, Philippines w/ Missionary Yang
A young youth pastor was taking a team of youths to a neighboring country for missions. On the bus, the youth pastor told his students to be prepared for the attacks of the devil. He told them that he felt God tell him that the devil hated what they are going to do and so have put his best demons against them and so they must be in prayer and always be alert. Some of the kids were nervous and two girls held onto each other scared at the announcement.

An older pastor who joined the team stood up and said, in a calm voice, “Don’t you worry about anything. He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world. Don’t scare them with talks of the devil. Encourage them with the power of God.”

PJin.

No comments:

Post a Comment