Charismatic Fakery
There is a well known bible pastor that is quite vocal in anti-charismatic rants. I understand it is actually his wife that fuels the animosity against Pentecostal individuals. He holds conferences on the strangeness of some charismatic individuals and movements. It does not seem to me that he or his staff would have the time to follow charismatic conferences around the country or around the world. I wonder how personally familiar this pastor might be with such full-gospel happenings. They seem to cherry-pick the most bizarre religious events they can find and then have their own conferences about them.
As one who is familiar with charismatic churches and gatherings, I am the one who could tell about the craziness that goes on in many places in the name of God. I also am familiar with super hard core, legalistic churches. When a person, many times, gets set free from the prison cell of religious bondage and finds the freedom that Christ sets them free into, they often will go crazy in the extreme before they settle into a more balanced position. Finding that the door on their cell has been unlocked all the time of their captivity can often send a person out of their mind with anger then joy for a while.
Years ago a couple churches in my area cooperated in holding an evangelistic event. We brought in an evangelist that was a good personal friend of one of the pastors. At the end of one of the meetings he had all the workers come forward. He was going to pray for them and minister personally to them. Nearly every person fell backwards to the floor. There was one man who fell over, “slain in the spirit”, who confided in another mutual friend about something. As he was waiting in line for the evangelist to get to him, he was aware of his wife sitting in the audience. He was thinking, Everyone is falling over. What will my wife think of me if I don't fall down like everyone else. He was genuinely concerned about it.
When the evangelist prayed for him, he felt compelled to fall over, which he did. After the meeting, he told his friend that he felt so ashamed. He felt like such a big hypocrite, acting like the crowd just because he was afraid that his wife would ask him later, What was the big problem, you unspiritual loser?
Our mutual friend commiserated with him, acknowledging that we should not have to play along and pretend with all the rest of the charismatic fakes. After all, everybody “knows” that none of this is real. We all just play along in this grown-up game with everyone else. We all “know” none of this is real. Any real person who lives in the real world should never have to feel pressured to comply with these religious church theatrics. Everybody “knows” that. Shame, shame.
Let me take you back to that same meeting to show you another perspective on that event. After the meeting, the evangelist called all the workers up front to be prayed over. I was third in line that evening. The first man crumpled to the floor like an old sock. I have never seen anything like it. The human body cannot move that way. The second man appeared to conveniently fall over and settle down for a long winter's nap with his feet neatly tucked into place before he fell over. When he came to me, I can honestly say that that evening was the most powerful thing I have ever experienced that involved another human being. No exaggeration.
The evangelist touched me with one finger. It was like someone hit me as hard as they could with a baseball bat. It was as if someone had shot me in the forehead with a .45 pistol and blew my head clean off my body. If someone had offered me a million dollars, I could not have remained standing.
Why does one man call it the most physically powerful moment of their life and the next man calls it a religious scam and fakery? How is it that everyone “knows” it is not real?
The late Kathryn Kuhlman's meetings are called by some, the most powerful meetings that the 20th century has ever seen. People have reported the meetings as having the most numerous, astounding, and visible miracles.
Let me offer a typical, yet hypothetical scenario which occurs in so many miracle meetings. Two people are seated together. One person sees a sight so astounding, they loose their breathe for moment. They scream to the person next to them, “Did you see that? It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen! My God, He's here! I can hardly believe it!!”
The other person is picking their nose, looking around, yawning, and pawing through their purse. They see nothing. These two people cannot possibly be in the same meeting, yet that is how it typically goes.
I know personally of a woman who was in one of Kuhlman's meetings. Not only was she not healed, she saw nothing; she saw no one touched by God. She thinks it is all fake. After all, everybody “knows” that. That is almost more significant that a real miracle. How can it be?
I was ministering in a remote village in Mexico. I had been recently impacted by Paul's statement:
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (I Cor 2:5)
These were brand new believers in this village so I wanted them to be established in the power of God, not just in what I said. A man came up to me to be prayed for. He had some kind of pain in his arms and shoulders. I thought I would check the alignment of his arms. This would provide a good chance for the people to actually see a visible miracle. I found his arms to be significantly mismatched. I was going to invite everyone to watch this man be healed. Before I could get the words out, the man's arm shot out instantly and became equal to the other. I asked him where the pain went. He was amazed and said, It is gone! I thought, I have to be a little quicker. Many miracles are so fast.
Next, a man brought his young son who had pain in his legs. I had the boy sit on a chair so I could see if his legs were equal in size. Again, there was a significant difference in length. This would be enough to let anyone see a visible miracle happen. I was going to quickly shout, Everybody, watch this!
I got as far as, “E....”. His legs became perfectly aligned, in an instant. Almost in a frustrated voice I said, “Where is the pain?”
“It's gone! It's gone!”
Why do some people witness the power of God and everyone else sees NOTHING? I honestly do not know.
Have you ever seen a holographic picture with the page full of repeating images? It looks like nothing. It's a frog riding a bicycle, someone says. They give further instructions. “Hold it closer. Lose your eye focus. Move in closer and farther away.” You do not see anything, no matter what. Finally, the image of a frog riding a bicycle seems to jump off the page. “I can see it!”, you shout. You run, excitedly, to a friend. He sees nothing, ever. However, you cannot help but see it. Every time you look at the page you see a frog riding a bicycle. Why do some people see nothing? I have no idea.
Jesus was super frustrated in John 6.
Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. (v. 26)
Jesus' signs meant nothing to most people. When they got to eat the buffet He set, they were enthusiastic. [Wasn't the multiplied food a miracle?] I honestly do not know the answer. Let us not be people that let their experience (or lack thereof) define reality. The apostolic writings of the bible should.
Oct 28, 2023