Had the opportunity to bring a friend attending a charismatic church to my church service. My past experience with his charismatic church gave me the feeling that his church is convinced that they are getting direct revelation from God and cracking wisdom within the bible (for a dynamic, exciting service and worship experience) that is not known till now.
His answer to my question asking for his feedback about the service was an annoying and dismissive "Christianity 101". Open to the possibility that I may really be in the presence of a theology giant who is so grounded in all these he really doesn't need to know more, I asked him for his understanding of what it means that Christ is the firstborn from among the dead (Col 1:18) which was explained during the sermon. I got a long pause, before he asked, "So what does this mean?"
I am doing my best not to generalise, and I believe that there are charismatics who are very aware of their reasons for choosing to be Christians and the full knowledge of what Christianity means. My experience with the average charismatic though is that the focus on experiences and revelation had corroded their priority of understanding God's Word as it is and in context.
No doubt 'fundamentalism' is becoming a dirty word today after the 9-11 incident. If you sit down and seriously think about it, why should something that is fundamentally good turn out for ill in society? Dirty word or not, in the charismatic's quest for excitement, that new 'close encounter with God and His Spirit', it is even more important to ground ourselves in the FUNDAMENTALS of His Holy Word, the understanding of His work on the cross; its implications and understanding for ourselves His overarching Will.
Why is this so urgent and important for the average Christian? It is because the RIGHTEOUSNESS which we are given by Christ's death came at a great price - it caused great pain and took the very life of our Lord, the perfect lamb; the righteousness we easily obtained by mere confessing that He is our saviour of our lives through the cross.
All religions and all spiritual beliefs can have 'oh-so-exalted', 'flying-in-the-air' ecstasy that comes from direct contact with spiritual forces, all religions and all spiritual beliefs can have exciting worship experiences that brings feelings of excitement that will bring you brief periods of inspiration and feelings of peace. Christianity is unique, in that we have a real, historical event of a Son of God humbling himself to take the form of man, to die a humiliating death on the cross, so that all man can be free from the bondage of sin.
How could we forget or disdain to know more of such great love in our lives?
It is sad when a person who claims to be a Christian were to shut off his ears when the basic gospel of Christ's death and resurrection as well as its implications on our lives is preached.
It is heartbreaking when a Christian is no longer excited about what Christ had accomplished on His cross and only pursues that 'oh-so-exciting' personal contact with God.
It is frustrating when faced with a blind Christian who THINKS he sees - and really chooses to blind himself to the truth right in front of his eyes.
Proverbs 3:7 "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil."
I pray that we (especially me) will know the Lord with all reverence and that we will find fulfillment in fully knowing what Christ had done for us on His cross through His Holy Word - the bible. I also pray that in saying all this, that I am not pointing to the speck in a brother's eyes and forget the plank in mine. I pray that I will always be given the discernment to know and hate even more the sin in my own heart that cost my Lord His life.
May God be with you.
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