Meetings where you experience the Spirit...

The flow of spirituality and charismatic errors and practices just keeps going and growing. This constantly reflects that there is more than your arid and dry Christian life today. You only have to see CIP.nl every now and then and the stories come along again. Yesterday for example.

The testimony of someone whose ministry is completely changed after going to a meeting with Randy Clark (“There is more”) went to have his hands laid on him (YouTube). Miracles, signs, and powers were evidently the result, all attributed to the Holy Spirit.
Then a second story how a “There is more” meeting has had a major impact on a person's life and work. It starts with 'learning to listen to God's voice'.
It is also a call to a new “There is more” meeting about hearing God's voice and receiving prophecies.
- 'Hearing Gods Voice' is the theme during 'There is More Next' on 9 February. How can you learn to hear the voice of the Holy Ghost in your life and how can you discover and practice the gift of prophecy?
- One of the speakers at this meeting is Andrew Chapman, one who receives and prophesies "words of knowledge" (YouTube). He teaches and trains people to experience 'the supernatural life'.
All kinds of events are organized where Christians can experience the supernatural. "If you want to know what you're missing, you have to go there, then you can discover and experience what God actually has in store for you," they say. The agenda on CIP.nl you will find all kinds of events in the coming months – I won't name names – where you can encounter the following things, for example:
- “Learn to prophesy, pray prophetically, . . . images, dreams, and visions”
- “(…) prayers are made for the sick, deliverance, and the baptism in the Holy Ghost. Fantastically beautiful things are happening. Together we are the church, together the Body of Christ. Everyone is called, everyone is equal and loved by God.'
- “(…) be equipped to set a new standard in healing and the gifts of the Holy Ghost.”
- 'Saturday 19 May will be dominated by 'impartation', the transfer and stimulation of spiritual gifts through the laying on of hands. (…) We strongly believe that supernatural miracles, signs and manifestations will take place in the presence of God. For anyone who longs for a real touch and encounter with the Holy Spirit, this is a day not to be missed!'

Christ the Crucified is missing

One of the things that stands out time and again in these kinds of events is the absence of Christ, the Crucified. Not a word is spoken of Him, let alone that one is full of Him who died for sinners.

It's for everyone?

Last night we had another Bible study and we talked about 1 Corinthians 12. I noticed that Paul says such different things about the spiritual manifestations than you hear everywhere these days. Because what you hear around you is that experiences like 'understanding God's voice', 'getting words of knowledge' and 'prophecy'[1] are things that every Christian can experience. “All you have to do is go to a special meeting and be prayed for. Let your hands be laid or otherwise touched and you will experience that your life changes! It's for everyone!', they say.

But Paul speaks a different language in 1 Corinthians 12.

Paul on 'spiritual manifestations'

In Corinth, because of the pagan origins of many believers (see verse 2), there was confusion about what actually was 'spiritual'. What is or is not of the Spirit of God? It is the same question that should be addressed more than ever today, and that is why Paul's discourse is incredibly topical today.

To begin with, Paul contrasts the question about 'the spiritual' with what they themselves knew about idolatry. Remember how when you were not yet Christians you served the gods and idols. You had contact with the invisible world and surrendered to be led by the demons (verse 2).
Then in verse 3 he makes it clear that when God's Spirit works, it is always about the Lord Jesus. The ghost 'will glorify Me' said the Lord Jesus Himself to His disciples (John 16:15). Paul assumes in this verse that we can always discern whether something comes from the Spirit of God or not.
When it comes to the 'spiritual gifts' (or spiritual gifts) you have to remember that it is not just about 'the Spirit', but that the triune God Himself is involved in the spiritual gifts (verses 4-6):
- It is grace that the Spirit give you something and want to use you (verse 4); it is not human merit or consequence of human action, but pure grace.
- If you have a employ can do, you do that for the Gentleman (verse 5); He is your client. You render a service primarily to Him, not to people (even if it must be useful to the other – verse 7). But that also means that you are accountable to Him; it does matter how you build (see also 1 Corinthians 3:10-15).
- Finally, once again, you are not alone and alone. You are not the center of your own universe because God works all kinds different effects on all (verse 6). So all your brothers and sisters are in the same way; albeit with other gifts and services.

Each individually

Without going into all the details of the rest of the chapter, you can only come to one conclusion after reading it. And that the spiritual gifts are not universal in the sense that everyone can prophesy or everyone gets words of knowledge. No, Paul argues just the opposite: one receives this and the other something else. There is no single gift that you can say is available to everyone.

“All these things work though one and the same Spirit, distributing to each one as He wills.” (12:11)
“(…) God has placed in the body the members, each of them individually, as He willed” (12:18)

It is not for nothing that the emphasis is on this:each individually”. God gives each one something, and each his own gift of grace. The whole chapter continues on that theme of "individual diversity" (in the one body, yes — see verse 14).

Paul leaves nothing to the charismatic claim that the 'supernatural life' and the special manifestations it entails are for everyone. No, God gives to each individual and each receives the workings of the Spirit that suit him or her and benefit the other members of the body.

The charismatic events assume that the spiritual manifestations are for everyone and that everyone can experience them. But that is precisely what 1 Corinthians 12 denies. Spiritual gifts or workings? Fine, but God's Spirit distributes it, not to the whole multitude the same, but to each individual!

God's Spirit dispenses, not people

Yet another point that this chapter of this first Corinthian letter teaches us is that God's Spirit Himself dispenses the spiritual things. This too is at odds with the practice that we see around us that there are people with a special 'ministry' who can communicate or transfer some 'manifestation of the Spirit' to others (see for example also here).

The twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians makes it clear that God Himself, through His Spirit, imparts the spiritual gifts, “as He wills”. He alone knows the hearts, He alone knows what is useful. He is "the God who works all in all” (verse 6).

“God has placed the members, each of them individually, in the body as He willed.” (verse 18).

It is a work of God in the hearts of the members of the one body (verse 27) for the benefit of the others, and in such a way that there would be no division in the body, but the members would take equal care of one another (verse 27). verse 25). He is the only One who knows how the body functions best.

There are no definitions of the spiritual gifts

Another thing that stands out in this chapter is that Paul mentions a lot of spiritual gifts in verses 8 through 10 without defining them.

A "word of knowledge" is seen in the charismatic world as something that the Spirit tells you—usually something about someone else—that you normally cannot know at all. This is how they justify their practice, but it is of course questionable whether this is really the meaning of a 'word of knowledge'. You can ask the same question with many of the other gifts.

But it is remarkable that Paul does not enter into this discussion at all in this chapter, nor does he define the gifts. He takes the terms as they are and as they are used, but otherwise leaves them for what they are. In this way he focuses on the real problem he wants to address here, which is that in Corinth, as in the charismatic world today, it is assumed that the experience of the same spiritual manifestations is available to every believing Christian.

However, without worrying about the precise definition of the various gifts, Paul makes it very clear that this is a misconception and that God Himself, through His Spirit, dispenses a variety of spiritual gifts to "each individual" and "as He wills."

Captivated

Attending and being open to the things that happen at these kinds of events carries a lot of risk. You make things with it that make a big impression on your feelings and that make it easy to grab. Paul warns:

“Take heed that no one takes you as spoils by philosophy and vain temptation, according to the tradition of men, according to the principles of the world, but not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8).

Instead, we should concern ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and rejoice in Him.

“Further, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. (…) Yea, verily, I also count all things loss because of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord (…) that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the communion of his sufferings, in that I be conformed to his death, to come to the resurrection of the dead by any means.
Not that I have already obtained it or am already perfect, but I strive to seize it too. To this end I was also seized by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1-12).

[1] But also all kinds of other charismatic things such as 'speaking or praying in tongues', 'healings' or 'miracles'.