The Florida Healing Outpouring
If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most
three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no
interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself
and God. ( 1 Cor. 14:27-28)
Two or three prophets should speak, and the others
should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone
who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in
turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets
are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of
peace. (1 Cor. 14:29-33)
Therefore, my brothers, be
eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should
be done in a fitting and orderly way. (1 Cor. 14:39-40)
Every time something like this Florida Healing Outpouring
comes along I am absolutely amazed at the naivety of believers.
A simple reading of 1 Cor. 12 and 14 would show this disorganized,
chaotic event to be the hoax it is.
I believe that the people who attend think it's real, but their leaders should
be sharply rebuked for their lack of discernment. It appears they've been
blinded by their own desire for fame and fortune.
And now people are traveling from all over the country
(some say the world) to capture the Holy Spirit and bring Him home with them.
Since when do believers have to travel to some far away location to bring
the Holy Spirit back to their church?
If the Holy Spirit isn't already in their church, do they think making a
trip to Florida will change things?
Dear friends, do not believe
every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because
many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)
We've had the Toronto and Brownsville blessings, the holy
laughter and the barking and growling in the spirit.
Each of these was heralded as the beginning of a great revival meant to
take the world for Jesus, but a decade later the Church is smaller and weaker
than ever.
Now we've got more intoxication in the spirit.
It causes people to lose their inhibitions altogether.
The behavior gets more demeaning with each new iteration of these
so-called blessings, and the claims get more outrageous.
We're told of angels walking among us, of visits to heaven where we learn
that Paul doesn't occupy a mansion in the sky, but something more like a cabin
on Walden Pond. We have angel feathers floating down and gold dust being
sprinkled around. All these things
seem to be especially designed to show us just how gullible we have become, and
how ripe for deception. For the time will come
when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own
desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what
their itching ears want to hear.
(2 Tim 4:3)
But how did God instruct his people to act? Paul devoted 4
complete chapters to the subject of order and decorum in worship. (1 Cor.
11-14) This is
consistent with Old Testament teachings that prohibited God's people from doing
anything that demeaned their appearance or behavior.
They were supposed to act like royalty.
They couldn't bow before anyone but God.
They couldn't have unnatural haircuts or tatoos.
Their dress, their appearance, and their actions were all supposed to
bring honor to God. Is God honored by people barking like dogs and acting like
they're falling-down drunk?
Where is the Biblical precedent for this so-called
spiritual out pouring? Wouldn't the
Book that's supposed to be our guide for behavior mention this somewhere? Except
to condemn it, the Bible is silent.
Not many of you should
presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be
judged more strictly. (James 3:1)
I don't know what to make of the claims of healing and
raising from the dead. (These are not resurrections by the way, because unless
they're raptured first these people will all die again.)
I know God heals people because I've seen Him do it.
I've prayed over people and the Lord has healed them and they've stayed
healed. I myself have been healed
from knee problems that made it impossible for me to walk up or down stairs or
even get up after kneeling. While I've read that these things exist, I have yet
to see any first person accounts of healing from Florida, or confirmation of
such from an independent source. I
hope and pray that folks are really being healed, because if they aren't untold
numbers of seekers will be turned away from their search and God will have been
mocked again by the very people who claim to be His own.
I wouldn't want to be in their shoes if that's the case.
Unfortunately, the so-called Renewal and Revival Movement
has not proven itself to be the most credible source in verifying the
miraculous. If this outpouring is
real, and people are being healed, they should invite church leaders from
outside the movement to help them substantiate their claims.
After all, Jesus sent the lepers He healed to the Temple for inspection
by the priests. (Matt. 8:4)
Should we expect any less today?
It's time for the church to get over our “zeal without knowledge”
mentality and ask for some hard evidence. Asking for proof isn't demonstrating a
lack of faith, it's holding people accountable for the claims they make in the
Name of the Lord. It's not only
logical that we should do this, it's also Biblical.
05-30-08
