Your Holy Spirit Is W-A-Y Too Safe
January 6, 2010
Posted by Dan Edelen in : Boldness, Charismatic, Christianity in North America, Church Issues, Counterculture, Discernment, Dying to Self, Godhead, Godly Character, Leadership, Maturity, Oddities, Supernaturalism, The Holy Spirit Feedback : 11 comments
One of the few Godbloggers I’ve met in person is Jared Wilson, author of Your Jesus Is Too Safe. We chowed down on McDonald’s in Nashville one night and talked writing.
I like the title of Jared’s book. Yet the more I think about it, the more I think that it’s not Jesus who causes the most trouble for Christians.
It’s the Holy Spirit.
When the Holy Spirit shows up in power in a church, the status quo changes. Those people especially touched by Him, ones who were often sideline sitters, suddenly are empowered to take on new roles and responsibilities within the body of Christ. The old ways of doing church fall into line with God’s way. Distracting programs and costly plans end up abandoned. Miracles happen. The charismatic gifts break out. And on and on.
And that threatens a lot of people. Especially those in charge.
The Holy Spirit’s penchant for busting up idols in a church, no matter how cherished they might be, is one of the most unnerving realities some church leaders face. Some denominations even take a formal stance against anything “charismatic” happening in their churches. Books are written by “safe” Christian authors/pastors/leaders about the need to keep “that stuff” down. You hear supposedly mature Christians ranting about what they don’t want the Holy Spirit to do in their churches.
So much for faith and humble submission! And while we’re at it, let’s just scrap the empowering for miraculous ministry, too.
So while Jesus may be relegated by some to a meek and mild Good Shepherd position, in too many churches the Holy Spirit is denied and unwanted because He’s perceived as downright threatening.
Why is the Church in America so timid and powerless? This issue is a great place to start.
Something to think about for 2010 and beyond.
Tags: Baptism of the Holy Spirit, Charismata, Charismatic, Empowerment, Holy Spirit, Jared Wilson, Jesus, Pentecost, Revival, Your Jesus Is Too SafeRelated posts
The Three Marks of Genuine Power Evangelism
July 29, 2009
Posted by Dan Edelen in : Apologetics, Boldness, Charismatic, Christianity in North America, Church Issues, Discernment, Dying to Self, Evangelism, God the Father, Godhead, Godly Character, Holiness, Humility, Jesus Christ, Maturity, Oddities, Relevance, Revival, Spiritual Warfare, Supernaturalism, The Holy Spirit Feedback : 25 comments
In my previous post, “Fumbling the Gospel,” I noted that many charismatic churches are using what is known as “power evangelism” to reach the lost. Power evangelism employs the Holy Spirit-given charismatic gifts to heal and speak words of knowledge and prophecy into the lives of people who do not know Jesus.
I fully support power evangelism done by genuine believers who can fully articulate the Gospel. Whether that’s the case in what passes for power evangelism in some sectors of the Church today is the question and the gist of my previous post.
Today, I feel compelled to add one more point to that post.
When you closely examine the “gospel” that many churches in America preach today, it is not the real Gospel. In too many cases, it fails to emphasize three core principles of the real thing:
1. Conviction of sin in the presence of a holy God
When the prophet Isaiah had a vision of God, notice his response:
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
—Isaiah 6:1-5
In the presence of a God called “Holy, Holy, Holy,” Isaiah, though called to be a prophet of God, immediately was undone by his own sinfulness in the presence of supreme holiness. As Isaiah stared into the reflecting mirror of God’s holiness, he saw a creature of his worst nightmares staring back. And he cried out in his guilt for being a sinful man.
The Bible notes that Isaiah is not alone:
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
—Romans 3:23
2. The death of self at the cross
The Apostle Paul writes of the one thing of which he must speak boldly:
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
—Galatians 6:14-15
All the world’s religions, save for Christianity, are little more than rules that no one can fully abide by. Each of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, no matter how many religious rules we try to keep. Only Jesus Christ perfectly kept the rules of God, and so being perfect, He took our place of punishment on the cross and served as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. As one popular Christian song states, “The cross has said it all.”
Paul said earlier in that same letter to the Church in Galatia:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
—Galatians 2:20
If people don’t make it to the cross, then they never die to self. And if they never die to self, then they are not new creations. Because the only kind of Christian that God can fully use is the one who has died to the self that was the old man and been born again into Christ.
3. Genuine repentance
Sadly, the portrait of Jesus often sold to people today is of the weepy-eyed sort who loves infants and little lambs. Yes, that side of Jesus is real. Yet He had another side that too many churches fail to promote as part of the whole Gospel:
There were some present at that very time who told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
—Luke 13:1-5
Jesus called John the Baptist the greatest of the prophets. What was John’s message?
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
—Matthew 3:1-2
Shortly after being baptized by John, Jesus began His own public ministry. His message?
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
—Matthew 4:17
After Pentecost, when Jesus had been resurrected, had ascended into heaven, and the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the disciples who had followed Jesus, they had something to tell the world. That message?
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
—Acts 2:38-39
Do you think repentance is a big deal to God?
That last verse I quoted, Acts 2:38-39, is preceded by the Holy Spirit falling in power on the followers of Jesus at Pentecost. Those indwelt by the Spirit spoke in tongues and exhibited the power of the Holy Spirit’s gifts, the charismata. That power was so stunning that 3,000 people watching the events of that day surrendered their lives to Jesus. Talk about power evangelism!
But what immediately preceded verses 38-39 is a telling response by the crowd of unbelieving onlookers to the words of Peter concerning the truth of Jesus and the power they had seen wrought in that gathering place by the Holy Spirit:
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
—Acts 2:37
This is not a simple question but a desperate one, the same kind of angst-filled reply that burned in the heart of Isaiah when confronted with the holiness of God and the true nature of his state before that holy God. It’s the conviction of sin.
When the Holy Spirit touches sinful people, He ALWAYS brings conviction of sin because He is HOLY, HOLY, HOLY. 
Every great revival of the last 300 years of recorded history has been marked by conviction of sin, people fleeing to the cross, and genuine repentance. The First and Second Great Awakenings, the Welsh Revival, the Azusa Street Revival—when Christians (especially charismatics) start talking about the Holy Spirit in revival, the results always lead to conviction, the cross, and repentance. ALWAYS.
So when I’m told about power evangelism supposedly being done in the power of the Holy Spirit, if I don’t hear about people coming to conviction, dying at the cross, and genuinely repenting of their dark sins in the light of the purity of the Holy Spirit, then I have got to wonder. Without those three essentials occurring in the lives of people touched by some sort of powerful spirit, I wonder just what spirit they received. Is it possible they are being influenced by a spirit who is not the Holy Spirit of God?
Real power evangelism done through the genuine power of the real Holy Spirit will convict people of their sins, drive them to the cross, and lead them to repentance. The Bible tells us this, and the great revivals of history add their own yes and amen.
If you are doing power evangelism and conviction of sin, dying to self at the cross, and repentance are not immediately following people’s power encounters, then stop what you are doing and ask yourself if you are truly ministering the genuine Holy Spirit to people.
We have got to stop being ignorant of the truths of God. This is simple stuff, but people are not using even basic biblical discernment to understand these truths. It’s just another example of how a lack of understanding of the words of the Bible leads to all manner of error. Better to know the Bible inside and out before one attempts anything resembling power evangelism.
Tags: Charismata, Conviction of Sin, Cross, Discernment, Evangelism, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Power Evangelism, RepentanceRelated posts
Fumbling the Gospel
July 27, 2009
Posted by Dan Edelen in : Apologetics, Boldness, Charismatic, Christianity in North America, Church Issues, Discernment, Dying to Self, Evangelism, Faith, Godhead, Godly Character, Heresy, Holiness, Humility, Jesus Christ, Leadership, Maturity, Oddities, Relevance, Revival, Spiritual Warfare, Supernaturalism, The Holy Spirit, Youth Feedback : 30 comments
I would prefer not to start the week with a rant, but this one has been stewing in me for some time, and unless I get it out, it will only nag at me further.
Please read this post today, even if you’re not up for an in-your-face message. And while much of this is aimed at charismatics, it applies to everyone. Because it’s not just charismatics who are missing the point.
I write this today because my heart is just sick with the way we are presenting the Gospel to the lost. I’m writing because our teens are not getting the proper indoctrination into the Faith. I’m writing because I am tired of fellow charismatics who treat the Holy Spirit like a cudgel. I’m writing because a lot of people who “asked Jesus into their heart” are going to hell.
The pastor of my former church linked from Facebook to the following video:
This video, as labeled, purports to show healing revival going on at Disneyland. A group of Christians wanted to pray for strangers at the park. My response: Great! Go for it!
But then the uh-ohs start. You can find one between 40-50 seconds in. Another comes at 4:07-4:20.
There’s a move in some charismatic churches into what has been deemed “power evangelism.” For those not familiar with the term, it involves using the charismata to evangelize people. This includes healing encounters and speaking words of knowledge and prophecy to the lost.
I want to state upfront that I believe power evangelism can be a remarkable tool to lead people to Christ.
But there’s a big “IF” attached to that statement. And part of that if shows at the 4:07 mark.
Power evangelism works if power encounters with the Holy Spirit are immediately followed with the truth of God’s word, the presentation of the Gospel, repentance, and a completely changed life. In that way, people who have genuine power encounters with the Holy Spirit are not just affected by the power encounter, but by the reality of who Jesus is as presented in the Gospel.
When I hear people claiming to be born again because they asked Jesus into their heart, it riles me. Not because Jesus doesn’t dwell in the believer, but because the whole idea of asking Jesus into one’s heart has no biblical basis for salvation.
Paul Washer provides an eloquent counter to this unbiblical concept. I encourage you heartily to watch the whole video. It’s worth it:
Entire churches are dedicated to equipping their youth for power evangelism (such as this well-known example). And while on the surface that sounds awesome, I have enormous reservations.
My key reservation is the same concern shared by Paul Washer: We evangelicals and charismatics no longer understand what the Gospel is. And we don’t understand it because the people who are supposed to be transmitting the truth of the eternal Gospel of Jesus Christ have fallen down on the job, distracted by prosperity teachings, comfort, the American Dream, fun, entertainment, self-help, and even, sad to say, power encounters with the Holy Spirit (the why of which I’ll explain later on).
I think it would be safe to say that the average teen in a charismatic church who may be receiving encouragement to do power evangelism can’t articulate what the real Gospel is. In fact, knowing what I know of youth ministry today, I doubt that most teens in evangelical or charismatic churches could lay out a basic plan of salvation with a half dozen Bible verses in support.
And that’s a crime.
Say a youth group decides to go out and do prophetic prayer ministry at a mall filled with lost people. A few scenarios exist:
1. Teen prays a prophetic word over someone. Person blows them off and walks away. Result: That person may stay lost because they have not heard the Gospel.
2. Teen prays a prophetic word over someone. Person listens, is touched by the prayer, but walks away. Result: That person may stay lost because they have not heard the Gospel.
3. Teen prays a prophetic word over someone. Person listens, is touched, and asks what next to do. Person is told to ask Jesus into his/her heart. Result: That person may stay lost because they have not heard the Gospel.
4. Teen prays a prophetic word over someone. Person listens, is touched, and asks what next to do. Person is told to ask Jesus into his/her heart. That person manages to retain enough interest in the experience to look into it further and, hopefully, stumbles across someone someday who actually explains the real Gospel to them. Result: That person may truly get saved and develop a love relationship with Jesus.
Numbers 1 through 3 are a complete loss, in my opinion, while 4 is the equivalent of fumbling the football and hoping your side recovers the loose pigskin—except in this gridiron classic, there’s not just one team playing against you, but hundreds, if not thousands.
Chances are, these mallwalkers who do bite may taste the fruits of heaven, end up calling themselves Christians, and fall into that netherworld of religiosity dominated by what I call “antiwitnesses.”
Too cynical? Well, I’m not done yet…
If the teens on this prophetic outreach can’t articulate the Gospel, can we be sure they even know what it is? And if they don’t know what it is, then are they truly saved themselves? And if all this is in question, what spirit is driving their power evangelism? Yikes!
(If you think I’m just charismatic bashing, then you’ll have to argue with well-known charismatics Andrew Strom and Derek Prince on these same issues. And for evangelicals, see “10 Reasons to Not Ask Jesus into Your Heart.”)
Youth ministry in this country is in a full-on freefall if we look at its ultimate results. Surveys by many of the most respected Christian pollsters and organizations repeatedly show that the majority of our supposedly born-again young people go into college as Christians and come out as unbelievers. George Barna paints an even bleaker picture, wherein only 0.5% of those ages 18-23 hold what is considered to be a traditional Christian worldview. No matter how you may want to slice and dice Barna’s figure, it’s a tragedy.
Those heartwrenching numbers exist solely because we in the Church today are not instructing our young people in the faith. They don’t know the Gospel. If they did, they wouldn’t be falling away in droves.
Instead, we teach kids who may not know the Gospel how to do power evangelism. Then they go around trumpeting how they’re going to “whack people up with the Holy Spirit.”
Frankly, I’d like to “whack up” whatever heretical “teacher” ever taught someone to talk about the blessed Holy Spirit in such a crass, demeaning way. Godless people speak that way about the members of the Trinity, not those who are indwelt by the genuine Holy Spirit. And for another thing, the Holy Spirit exists to relentlessly point to Jesus, not to Himself. Again, if we don’t know that, we don’t know the Gospel.
Are you mad yet at the foolishness that passes for discipleship and ministry today?
You don’t give a howitzer to a baby, no matter how much they may scream for it. The early Church did not let people go off spiritually half-cocked like we do today. Maturity was lauded and immaturity criticized.
We MUST instruct the immature in the basics of the faith. Any 13-year-old kid who was raised in a church MUST be able to espouse basic doctrine, including the core of the Gospel, in a coherent way. When I was that age, I had to study my Lutheran catechism for hours, do personal Bible study on basic doctrine, and sit through a one-hour, two-on-one grilling on tough issues of the faith by the pastor and youth worker before I was considered an adult member of the church.
We have GOT to get back to that kind of intensive discipleship or this will be the terminal generation of the Church. God will not forever excuse the kind of educational folly we’re practicing in all too many churches before He takes decisive action.
In a bit of sychronicity, I happened to stumble across a likeminded post over at iMonk’s blog, “Higher Things: A New Model of Youth Ministry.” It reads like a breath of fresh air, even if it’s again the Lutherans doing it right. I’m just glad SOMEONE takes ministry to the next generation seriously. Much more power to ‘em.
But as for the rest of us, we’re atrocious at turning our young people into mature Christians. Atrocious. Too many distractions knock us off the core, foundational doctrines.
Power evangelism is incredible when it’s in the hands of people who know the Gospel, can articulate it, and know how to discern good from evil. But that simply is not our young people today.
If we want to undermine the Church in America even more, let’s keep being stupid about discipleship. But God help us then on Judgment Day.
Tags: Character, Charismata, Disciplship, Evangelism, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Maturity, Paul Washer, Power Evangelism, Teaching, Teens, YouthRelated posts
Driving a Stake Through the Heart of “Christian” Nihilism
March 3, 2009
Posted by Dan Edelen in : Boldness, Christianity in North America, Church Issues, Counterculture, Faith, God the Father, Godhead, Godly Character, Jesus Christ, Leadership, Maturity, Obedience, Perseverance, Prayerfulness, Relevance, Simplicity, Spiritual Warfare, Supernaturalism, The Holy Spirit Feedback : 33 comments
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
—Mark 10:27
Read that verse again. Now I want to ask a question: Is it true?
If any of us had to think even a split second about the answer, then something’s wrong. If any of us pondered for the briefest of moments a situation too impossible, then something’s wrong.
I can tell you with a straight face that something’s wrong with us American Christians. And that something is that we do not believe in our heart of hearts that all things are possible with God.
Frankly, I’m sick of fellow believers telling me what is and what is not possible. I’ve had it with Christians telling me, “Well, that’s just the way it is.”
If anything is “just the way it is,” then it’s that way because you and I don’t have faith. Period.
Folks, there’s a heckuva lot of nihilism out there masked as “practical” Christianity. Plenty of “mature Christians” will attempt to calm you down when you see something wrong and start asking why Christians in whom the Living God of the Universe dwells can’t tackle that thing and make it right.
Does anyone here think the Apostle Paul looked at Rome and said, “I think I’ll go someplace easier to evangelize”–anyone?
Look, all this naysaying talk comes down to one thing: unbelief.
One of my favorite quotes by the late revivalist Leonard Ravenhill went something like this:
One of these days, someone’s going to open this Bible, read it, and truly believe it, and then we’re all going to be ashamed.
I get a little fed up with people calling me a utopian. You know what I am? I’m someone who believes that nothing is impossible with God. I plead the same w0rds as the three Hebrews:
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
—Daniel 3:16-18
Even if He doesn’t, I’m still believing that He will. Because nothing is impossible for Him. And I simply will not bend my knee to another idol of unbelief. Our churches in America are filled to the rafters with that idol, and I’m sick of encountering it everywhere I look.
This world is filled with far too many people who say_____________ can’t be done. Considering the times we live in, we Christians simply cannot fall in with that crowd. Yet how easy it is to do:
We may believe that God can save a hardened old curmudgeon of a sinner, yet we resign ourselves to thinking that He can’t heal someone of cancer.
We may believe that God worked in the lives of the patriarchs, yet we resign ourselves to thinking that He can’t work in our lives today.
We may believe that God can lead a nation of people through the parted waters of a sea, yet we resign ourselves to thinking that He can’t fix a broken socio-economic system.
We may believe that God came in the flesh and fed five thousand with a handful of loaves and fish, yet we resign ourselves to thinking that He may not come through with our daily bread.
I don’t want to hear what God can’t do coming off the lips of anyone who claims to be a Christian.
My God can do anything. Why can’t yours?
Tags: Faithlessness, Nihilism, Resignation, Unbelief
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