Let me start this rant by stating clearly that I believe in the Gifts of the Spirit. I speak in tongues and have been known to prophecy… These gifts are for us today, just like they were in the New Testament days. God is not going to pull the plug on our power and tell us to go win the world; it just doesn’t work that way.
That said, I have often seen the gifts abused in ways that would put the church at Corinth to shame… In many Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, these gifts have replaced Scripture and prophecy or tongues with an interpretation that blatantly opposes and defies plain Scripture is often left to stand unopposed and unchallenged.
I believe in the gifts, but I am convinced that Scripture stands as the unchallengeable Word of God and that all prophecy, and all messages in tongues are to be judged by that standard.
Anything that God does, the Devil will fake. There is no exclusion to that rule for the Gifts of the Spirit. The Devil will and does abuse both prophecy and tongues. If you were to watch Hindus in a service, you would find that a demon spirit they call Kundalini brings ecstatic and emotional outbreaks and gives both the gift of tongues and prophecy to his followers.
If that were the only problem, it would be bad, but the Kundalini spirit has invaded the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches and many Christians have fallen victims to its foolish nonsense.
Many years ago, I was in a huge, “Interdenominational” service in an auditorium with thousands of young people. It was sponsored by Charismatic Catholics, but even Baptist youth were in attendance. The platform had a dozen chairs across the front, facing the crowd. Those chairs were filled with priests, pastors, and bishops from the Catholic, Assembly of God, and Church of God denominations. As the Charismatic Catholic Bishop stood to speak, a lady screamed out a message in tongues. Immediately following her message, the interpretation came through a man in another part of the audience… I shall never forget it. “Thus saith the Lord, we should all be more devoted to the Virgin Mary and say our Roseries at least five times a day!”
Not one person, neither on the stage, nor in the audience, challenged that word and the Catholic Bishop began his remarks by thanking God for his “Word”. At that time, I was very Baptist, and I was appalled… Every Christian, and certainly every Man of God in that place, Pentecostal and Charismatic alike should have been sick at their stomachs.
In Venezuela, as a Pentecostal Missionary, I stood on a rain-soaked field and listened to a Venezuelan pastor jump up and down and preach what was, really, nothing more than a bunch of very Pentecostal phrases, repeated without context or meaning. At the end of the service, a man went forward. He fell on the ground, in the mud, and began to writhe like a snake. He would move towards another person and strike like a snake, trying to bite people’s ankles… The Evangelist started shaking violently, he jumped up and down in apparent ecstasy, shouting “Glory to God! Glory to God, the Spirit is here, the Spirit is here!” A large group from my church joined me as we simply walked away… In retrospect, I should have challenged that.
In 2019, hundreds of Facebook followers sent me hundreds of “Messages from God” in which tongue talking men and women excitedly spoke “Words” in the Name of God” that Trump would win the election and save America!!!!
The nonsense continues…
Yes, I believe in tongues and prophecy… but unfettered, unchecked, uncontrolled, demonic “Words” are killing the church…
Already today, I have received a foolish, stupid, unbiblical, ungodly “Word of the Lord” in my messages… When will it ever stop? Quit saying “Thus saith the Lord”, followed by unbiblical, stupid, and insane messages…
When will we learn that Scripture, not tongues and prophecy, is the final authority?
David…
End Time Thinker 