stillhaventfound.org

I’ve been reading a bit into the latest “revival” that has hit the world - the Lakeland Florida Healing Revival. Seeing the videos (through YouTube) of what’s happening reminds me of the Toronto Blessing that occurred in the mid-1990s. That was a really huge revival during that time and I remember it clearly because the Pentecostal church I was attending in Singapore was really into it and had sent some of their staff members go over to Toronto to check it out. In fact, a lot of charismatic churches in Singapore were very into that revival. There was so much excitement in charismatic circles in Singapore and throughout the world then. Rodney Howard-Browne came to Singapore and I attended a lot of his meetings. Yes, I was very excited myself! The most distinctive aspect of the meetings was the holy laughter and if I’m not wrong, I think the distinctive message was about the Father’s love. So many lives were transformed then. But there were also a lot of criticisms of the revival. Even John Wimber (probably the most respected modern day charismatic leader ever and one who is humble, compassionate and balanced) and the Vineyard disassociated themselves from the Revival. I visited the Church in Toronto a few years later and attended the services there, but things kinda died down by then.

A smaller revival that occurred a while later was the Pensacola Outpouring. The focus on this revival was on repentance and holiness. I also managed to visit that Church before I visited Toronto - but again, probably a bit too late by then.

Well, those were pretty exciting times - especially the Toronto one. Weird things happened and so unsurprisingly criticisms abounded of some of the stuff that occurred during the services. At the peak of it all, I was quite caught up and maybe a bit too accepting of everything. I remember defending the Toronto Blessing against some of my friends’ criticisms. This was at a time when I was still thoroughly charismatic and hadn’t encountered the Reformed faith nor come to appreciate the non-charismatic side of Christianity. And so I was caught up with it all - as many charismatics were then.

Anyway, even after encountering and appreciating the non-charismatic side of Christianity years later, I didn’t reject my charismatic roots. Nor did I, after I started to appreciate the non-charismatic Christian world, become critical of all these revivals. Since the Toronto Blessing, many people have reflected upon how one should evaluate such revivals. Many books have been written and a lot of them point to revivals in history and how lots of weird and abnormal manifestations happened as the Spirit moved mightily upon people. Revivals aren’t neat things. They’re messy, not orderly. And lots of abnormal and weird things happen! So it’s not good enough to criticize a revival because of its weird manifestations.

Going back to the healing revival at Florida. I see that the blogsphere is starting to comment more and more on it and the person associated with the revival, Todd Bentley. Adrian Warnock is a respected blogger who has good relations with both Reformed (normally non- or anti-Charismatic) and Charismatic Christians. He recently wrote his thoughts on the revival here. He refers to Terry Virgo, who is the leader of a group of churches called Newfrontiers. Terry has written two posts so far on the revival. His first one was a bit more cautious. His second one, more open. Like Adrian Warnock, Terry and this group could probably be termed Reformed Charismatics too. While I would no longer call myself a Reformed Charismatic (i.e. one who appreciates both the Reformed and Charismatic worlds of Christianity) as I’m not sure how Reformed I still am, I respect such groups and leaders simply because the fact that they can claim to be Reformed in some way or that they have benefited from Reformed theology means that they have a good foundation in theology and are thus different from many flakey charismatics (or charismaniacs).

Here’s Rob Rufus’ thoughts on the revival. He’s a charismatic who is very grace-centered. J. Lee Grady, who I mentioned here, is also a charismatic who I respect. He is the editor of Charisma magazine, which is the most famous magazine for charismatic Christians. And I’ve always considered him to be pretty balanced and not a flakey charismatic. His thoughts on this revival are a bit more cautious.

(By the way, I’ve mentioned flakey charismatics a lot because there are a lot of them around. I’ve been a charismatic long enough to know that. I will always be one but I don’t see the need to defend every charismatic practice because in reality there are lots of weird things going around. I don’t agree with everything and acknowledge the many abuses and excesses. But I’m not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are good and bad in Charismatic Christianity just as there are good and bad in non-charismatic Christianity.)

I also came across this article by Storm Harvest. I am not very familiar with this organization. From their website, their vision is to promote the prophetic (in Australia). I think their article is worth reading as it represents a more critical view of the revival from a pretty charismatic-leaning organization.

And lastly, I’d also like to mention some ultra critical websites simply because I think some of what they have to say merits reading and reflection. One is Revival School and the other is The Revival Army. Both these sites view the revival as demonic and dangerous and while at this stage I actually feel much more positive towards the revival, I think some of the stuff they have written are definitely worth reading. That doesn’t mean I agree with their conclusions, of course.

In my next post, I’ll mention some of my thoughts regarding the revival.

Yesterday, I went to a Church of Our Saviour (COOS) service where Deborah Reed was ministering. Deborah is the director of the Children’s Ministries in Bethel Church in Redding, California and also the founder of Kingdom Treasures International. Bethel Church is pastored by Bill Johnson. In the past 6 months or so, I’ve been coming across a lot of Bill Johnson’s stuff - through conferences and bookstores I’ve gone to and a recommendation from a cousin of mine. Before this time, I hadn’t heard about him. But these various encounters have made me quite interested to find out more about his ministry, which can be described as prophetic and very focused on the supernatural (healings, miracles, etc.) Check out this YouTube of Bill Johnson on the 700 club (part one, two, three) and also this creative leg-lengthening miracle that occurred during a Bill Johnson conference. I love how Bill encourages Christians into go to the streets to heal people - i.e. to pray and believe for healing for anyone they see that needs healing when they’re just going about their daily life. That’s pretty much exactly like how Jesus ministered healing, isn’t it! Jesus didn’t call people who wanted healing to come to his healing meeting. Rather, he went out into the streets and healed people. And Johnson’s ministry is all about expecting the heavenly miraculous to invade earth and expecting a supernatural form of Christianity.

Anyway, yesterday’s service was quite an eye opener. Deborah preached a little bit about children and how God can move through them. She recently held a Children’s Ministry conference at COOS and she also taught the children there how to pray for the sick. So after her preaching, she got a few dozens of children to come out to the front. The children were going to pray for the sick. Then she asked the children if God gave them any Words of Knowledge. This could come through the children feeling a pain in their own body - a way that God could speak to them regarding what He wants to heal. The children who felt God speaking through them this way spoke into the microphone regarding what sickness God wants to heal (e.g. back pains, pain in the right ankle, etc.) and then people who were sick in that area could come up to the front for the children to pray for them. People who felt the pain completely gone then started to testify and probably about 15-20 people testified of God’s healing power during that time.

It’s exciting and wonderful to see God working through these children. Some were probably as young as 5-6 years old. During the ministry time, as time wore on, some children started running and playing on stage. Deborah mentioned that we should realize that they’re still kids. They may pray and God may heal through them, but the next minute they could be slapping their friends!

Just like this situation, I do believe God dearly loves to work through children. It’s all about childlike faith and children have that. They haven’t had enough of life experience to learn how to be scared or shy or embarrassed if their prayers aren’t answered. They just believe and expect God to be true to His Word to heal when they pray for people. I think we adults have to unlearn so many things, get rid of so many negative thoughts and past experiences. We have to renew a lot of our mind and thinking - something that children don’t need to. Unlike adults, they’re not too smart for their own good. They don’t rationalize or reason out everything. If they did like most adults, it’d be hard to have faith. I think Kierkegaard and Luther are right in believing that in a sense faith is opposed to reason. Children don’t use their minds to reason that much. They just believe. And God responds to such childlike faith.

I’m starting on the book Walking with God by John Eldredge, which was just released this year. John’s written many popular books before like Wild at Heart. I haven’t read any of his previous books and I don’t plan to read them. This one only caught my attention because it’s about hearing from God. The subtitle to the book goes, “Talk to Him. Hear from Him. Really”.

I’m quite excited about this book in a way. I wrote an entry on Hearing God’s voice about 4 months ago. I have to admit that I haven’t traveled far in this area since then. I know it takes time and commitment to learn to discern God’s voice. But a few events over the past few months have made me more determined to want to see if this works for me.

I first came across this book through Tim Challies’ review of the book. Challies’ blog is perhaps the most popular Christian blog on the Internet. He’s Reformed in his belief. And so a bit too conservative (i.e. non-charismatic) for my liking. Unsurprisingly, his review was more negative than not.

One book that I read very early on in my Christian life and which has had a bit of influence over my thinking (if not consciously, then subconsciously) is the very well-known book called Decision Making and the Will of God by Garry Friesen and Robin Maxson. While this book doesn’t explicitly argue against the possibility of hearing God’s voice (it’s not a book about God’s voice per se), it promotes a view of discerning God’s will that implicitly rejects the possibility or need to hear God’s voice. Rather, it argues that in matters that are not explicitly addressed by the Bible, God would want us to use wisdom to choose. That is, God doesn’t speak to us and tell us what we should do, but we’re given the freedom to choose according to our wisdom.

One thing good about this book is that it’s very comprehensive - it’s over 500 pages long! It deals with a lot of Scripture and you know that the authors have done their homework and thought through the issues. And thus I think it’s a good book to start with. Eldredge’s and Shultz’s book would prove useful to me because they are people with the experience of hearing from God. However, Shultz’s book still left me with a lot of questions theology-wise, and from the little I’ve read from Eldredge, I haven’t been too satisfied with some of his reasonings.

I do like good theology. I think all practices should be based on good theology. And I still have a lot of questions regarding the issue of hearing from God. However, while I don’t have everything figured out theology-wise, I do have faith that God does speak and that we can hear from Him. Having moved in charismatic circles for a long time, I know of too many incidents that point to the fact that God still speaks. Of course, I’ve experienced plenty of abuses too, but shouldn’t put me off.

Because of my experiences in charismatic churches, I’ve never felt fully comfortable with Friesen/Maxson’s book. But I like it because it’s comprehensive and I think anyone who promotes a view to the contrary needs to deal with their arguments. In fact, I’ve been waiting for more than a year for the Three Views on Decision Making and the Will of God to be released. One of the views would be argued by Friesen/Maxson and of course we’ll see two other views on this topic and two responses from the two other authors. One of the other authors would be Henry Blackaby, author of Experiencing God: Knowing And Doing The Will Of God, a book which I’m considering buying.

Anyway, let me quote from a section of Friesen’s website which summarizes the authors’ view. This is the main part of their view which has stayed with me all these years. I think everyone who advocates that we ought to hear from God always before making decisions has to grapple with what they have to say here:

The apostles modeled wisdom in their decision making - “We thought it best” (1 Thessalonians 3:1).

It is fruitful, when reflecting on this question, to observe the decision-making practices of the apostles as well as their explanations for the reasons behind their actions. For instance, some weeks after Paul and his companions were forced to leave the newly founded church at Thessalonica, they agreed on a plan. It is explained in 1 Thessalonians 3:1-2, whereby the fledgling church could receive further help: ‘Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy � to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith.’

How was their decision made? ‘We thought it best.’

As one reads of other apostolic decisions in the New Testament, one encounters similar terminology: ‘I thought it necessary’ (Philippians 2:25-26); ‘if it is fitting’ (1 Corinthians 16:3-4); ‘it is not desirable’ (Acts 6:2-4); ‘I have decided’ (Titus 3:12).

When it came to instruction in decision making, the apostles’ exhortations were consistent with their practice. Some choices were commanded on grounds of being ‘good,’ while others were ‘better’ (1 Corinthians 7:1, 9, 26. 38).

All of the decisions referred to have two things in common: 1) since they were not determined by God’s moral will they each qualified as a matter of freedom, and 2) the terms utilized in the explanations (’good,” ‘better.’ ‘best.’ ‘fitting,’ etc.) imply some standard.

It’s clear from the above that the apostles themselves didn’t always hear from God before making decisions, even if it was an important one! Or perhaps, they did seek to hear from God but God didn’t always speak to them about certain decisions. So for some cases at least, they had to use their own wisdom to make decisions.

Of course, I don’t think it’s right to argue based on the above Scriptures that God doesn’t guide us through speaking to us. I think He does sometimes. But the above indicates that He doesn’t do so all the time and perhaps we shouldn’t expect Him to do so all the time.

So in regards to decision making, I’d disagree with those who say that God always guides us through His voice, just as I’d disagree with those who say that God never desires to guide us through His voice but would always want us to make decisions based on our wisdom.

But hearing God’s voice is more than just for the sake of decision making. As a charismatic, I believe in the supernatural gifts like interpretation of tongues, prophecy and word of knowledge. I’ve seen them in action - again, both genuine cases and not-so-genuine cases. So even if one believes as Friesen/Maxson believe that God never guides us through His voice, there are other reasons for learning to hear God’s voice. A person could be sick and we could ask God for a word of knowledge regarding what we should pray for or what the cause of the problem is. I’m not gifted in all these, but I have encountered too many of such things to know that God still speaks…

The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less. (Timothy Keller, The Reason For God, p. 181.)

I like this quote a lot because I think it summarizes well how we ought to think of man in the light of sin and the gospel. Some Christians look at the gospel and emphasize how flawed man is. Others look at the gospel and see in it how loved man is. I tried to share a bit of my thoughts on this issue here (Man-centered or God-centered? Part One & Two).

I like what Tim Keller said about not thinking “more of myself nor less of myself”. Rather, we should just think of ourselves less! That is, the question isn’t whether we ought to have a “low” or “high” view of ourselves. Rather, we really shouldn’t be thinking of ourselves at all so much! We should be thinking of Christ instead!

The above sounds pretty good. I started this blog post agreeing with Keller’s statement. But as I started to write, some other thoughts came into my mind. And so I’d like to provide a bit of challenge to the above.

Let me start by saying that because we’re Christians, we are new creations. We’re no longer the same as before but have been fundamentally changed in the inside of us. While it’s good to think of God and Christ more, maybe it’s not all that wrong to think of ourselves (that is, if we’re Christians) because the way we ought to think of ourselves as Christians isn’t the same as before. That is, we see ourselves as “in Christ”. Our identity now is intrinsically linked with Christ’s identity. We take our identity after his.

Therefore, everytime we think of ourselves, we shouldn’t really be thinking of ourselves alone, but who we are because of Christ and who we are in Him. Given the truth that we’re in Christ now, there’s no longer any need to dichotomize between focusing on man and focusing on Christ. In a sense, the more we talk and focus on this new creation - if we do so properly and realize that this new creation is new because of Christ and because he/she is in Christ -, the more we’re actually focusing on Christ too because this new creation cannot be understood apart from Christ.

Prosperity is how much of a blessing are you to someone else. That’s the way that God evaluates it. (The Unjust Steward, Andrew Wommack, 40:38 onwards)

When you get to where the priority on your finances isn’t for you, but rather it’s to bless someone else, then God will assume the liability of taking care of you. And when God takes care of you, he will take care of you better than you would ever take care of yourself. (The Unjust Steward, Andrew Wommack, 53:44 onwards)

Go back to Ephesians 4:28. It says let him that stole steal no more. But rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have to give to him that needs. The reason for your working should be to have to give to him that needs. (The Unjust Steward, Andrew Wommack, 41:39 onwards)

I recently finished Andrew Wommack’s series on Financial Stewardship. Wommack is from the Word of Faith (aka Health and Wealth, Prosperity Gospel) movement but his views on money are amazingly refreshing. This movement has been heavily criticized (and I’d have to say most of the time probably rightly so) for focusing excessively on money and material things, and thus promoting or encouraging greed in its adherents.

I do believe strongly in God wanting to prosper Christians. Of course, there are nuances that need to be made in regards to my previous statement. I haven’t got it all figured out yet and one day maybe I’ll get down to thinking and writing more about it. But for now, I’m unsatisfied with the view of those who say that there are no promises of prosperity for Christians. On the other hand, I’m cannot agree with the lifestyle of a lot of these prosperity preachers. There have been too many documented abuses and excesses in the movement. And yet, that doesn’t mean that there’s nothing we can learn from the message of these Christians.

I believe that if every Word of Faith preacher believed (and lived out) the same things regarding how money ought to be used (stewardship) as Andrew Wommack, the movement would have so much more credibility. As I’ve said a few times on this blog, I strongly believe in “Blessed to be a blessing” and “Prosperity with a purpose”. These are slogans thrown around in the Word of Faith movement. I think they are biblical slogans. It’s just that I think very few people in the movement truly live them out, eventhough they claim to believe in them. I feel that most of the time it’s just used as a justification for asking God to bless us materially.

If one day the movement is known for how much of a blessing they are to others, then I would truly salute them. Right now, I think it’s obvious that we hear a lot more about how God wants to bless us for our own sake, rather than to bless us so that we can bless others.

…most of the Bible’s practical instructions are in the second half of Paul’s epistles. The reason is because the second half of each epistle is the applicational portion of Paul’s teaching. If you were only concerned about the [issue of] family, then you would probably address only those passages.

Yet we cannot approach the Christian life merely by looking at the practical applications. The first half of Paul’s epistles form for us a necessary foundation - they establish us in Christ. Not until we establish ourselves in the truths about being complete in Christ can we begin to apply what we find in the second half of Paul’s epistles. People who try to behave as children of God will produce little fruit when they have no understanding of who they are in Christ or how to live by the Spirit’s power.

…I have seen marital conflicts resolved and stay resolved when couples focus first on who they are in Christ, and then deal with their other problems. I’ve never seen marriage resolution work when that order is turned around. People today are spending too much time trying to change behavior, and not enough time trying to change what they believe about God and themselves.

(Neil Anderson, God’s Power At Work In You, p. 209)

I’ve been reading a bit of Neil Anderson’s stuff recently. Really powerful stuff. I first encountered his book The Bondage Breaker about 5 to 10 years ago. I don’t think I read it then. Or at least it didn’t leave much of an impression on me.

Recently, through trying to help a friend through some spiritual bondages, I’ve been reading Anderson’s books. Anderson’s ministry is all about helping people find freedom in Christ. And the main way to finding freedom is through knowing one’s identity in Christ.

I’ve always known the importance of knowing one’s identity in Christ and how that is so fundamental in a Christian’s spiritual walk with God. But Anderson’s writings have reinforced this in my mind. Knowing one’s identity in Christ has a lot to do with knowing the benefits of the finished work of Christ. It’s about knowing who the Christian is as a result of what Christ did for him/her.

Another thing that’s been reinforced in my mind as I read Anderson is that the devil’s main weapon is his lies. He’ll do all he can to influence our thinking. He’ll make us think that our heavenly Father isn’t a loving father because of our past experiences. He’ll deceive us into thinking that we’re merely forgiven sinners, and not new creations with authority and power. Basically, a lot of what he does has to do with preventing Christians from understanding who they are in Christ simply because knowing one’s identity in Christ is so powerful.

These are of course things that New Creation teaches. New Creation’s emphasis is on grace - i.e. what God has done for us in Christ - and also who we are and what we have because of Christ’s finished work. Many other churches emphasize a lot on what we ought to do for God, that is, the practical applications portion of the Bible.

I don’t think it’s wrong to preach the practical applications portions of the Bible. In fact, it’s definitely wrong if a church doesn’t preach them at all (which one day I’ll argue New Creation could probably be accused of). However, it’s probably just as wrong, if not more so, to ignore or place so little emphasis on the foundational “who we are in Christ” passages because we think that Christians already know it all. The truth is that most of us don’t know the full implications of what it means for us to be “in Christ”. And I think that’s one reason why we see so little victory and power in the Church.