This Messageboard will be shut soon. Please go to
New Messageboard to continue your discussions.
We want to hear from you... A query that needs an answer, a word to uplift the people, a statement of concern that needs prayer, a cry for help...
God bless you...
Falling forward or backwards? Are we missing the point?
Slain in the Spirit? (God-seeker)
Untitled (Jonathan Koh)
There are some problems.......
Thank you whoever you are in sharing this. For once I now understand that being slain is not falling backwards but ...
|
I think those who are arguing that falling backwards isn't biblical are missing the point!...:)
Just because there aren't biblical characters who fell backwards doesn't mean that it's unbiblical to fall backwards. I think there isn't direct biblical basis for the so called "slaining in the Spirit" or what i prefer to call being overcome by the Spirit. However, what i can infer through biblical experiences is that when God comes in his power and awesome presence, things just start getting a bit weird. As we read the bible, we see so many things that God does that we would never have expected. Take for example the way he heals through spitting. Take for example the way he wrestles with Jacob. The way people are overcome by the tangible presence of God. Yes, they fell forward, but does it matter? Are we going to set a rule that just because they fell forward that we must fall forward too for it to be a true experience of God? If so, do we also heal the same way always - through spitting like Jesus did. Or how about using hankerchiefs or asking people to go into the river to cleanse themselves? I think that judging by biblical experiences, we shouldn't limit our God. Yes, we definitely need discernment coz there's a lot of abuses and excesses out there in charismatic churches. We need to be careful and discerning. But let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Let's accept the good and reject the unbiblical stuff. I believe one way to judge if something is biblical or not is looking to the fruits. If there are fruits and a change in a person's life, it is most likely from God. For Satan doesn't cause a person to be more fruitful, more loving, to be transformed...etc. For a kingdom divided will not stand. I understand the concerns of many who have written here about the excesses they have experienced. I myself have experienced a lot - perhaps more than any one of you. I have personal experiences (over 30 times I wrote in my last message) of being "pushed" down. And i am very careful in this area. But I'm not willing to say that those who fall backwards aren't experiencing the power of God. I know God works in different ways and i know that when He comes, things happen. Just look to the revivals of the past and you'll no doubt encounter weird weird manifestations and experiences. I think one way the devil influences people is to make them take one special case of God's move and cause Christians to think that "it's always going to be like that". I personally feel that we don't need to encourage people to fall, and we don't need to put catchers behind every person that comes out for prayer (this is a form of encouragement and it has a psychological effect to influence ppl to fall). The way this "practice" has spread is quite amazing. Just because God came in a powerful way that people fell (in Toronto or wherever), doesn't mean we always expect him to do the same and doesn't mean we need to prepare catchers. I think that those who always expect God to move in such a way err in the same way that those who criticize all this expect God to always cause people to fall forwards! So if those who criticize this phenomena are wrong, those who encourage this phenomena are equally wrong. One of the reasons the Vineyard and Johm Wimber had troubles with TACF was because of the handling of the revival and the way the leaders in TACF tried to make things normative and tried to encourage all the phenomena. I believe the Vineyard and Wimber believed that the revival was a sovereign move of God, but they didn't like it being "marketed" or "promoted". Genuine revivals can't be marketed or promoted. We should let God be God! I also believe that those who make the alter call and getting people to be prayed for during "ministry time" after the message - if they make this time central and the most expected time of the service, then they err seriously. And that's what happens very often. People just can't wait to go and be prayed for and experience something. But this is a wrong thinking. No where in the Bible did such a thing happen! The preaching of the Word, partaking in the sacraments, praying - all these are common practices of the early Church. But where do we read of some alter call where people fell - where do we read of such phenomena being normative for a Church service? I don't see it in the Bible. Therefore, i think what we need is balance. Both charismatics and non/anti-charismatics need to start appreciating and learning from one another. In the case of "being slained", i believe those not for all this shouldn't be too quick to say it's not of God just because people fall backwards - because God can move in such a way. We should not limit God but rather look at the fruit. For charismatics who are for all of this, we need to approach this issue with more discernment and reflection. Let's not "sacramentalize" such phenomena. If God moves in such a way, praise be to God for the change in the person's heart along with the experience that accompanies it. But let's not force God to do the same always or promote such phenomena. That shouldn't be our focus. Let's go back to the basics! Ok, so here's a bit of my ramblings...:) Sorry i had to write a bit too fast and may come out a bit too hard, but my heart has always been to see charismatics and non-charismatics learn from one another. May we evaluate what each other say and seek to learn from one another. Love in Christ, Jonathan
|
Messages
Outline:
Back to Antioch's Home Page