"In Accordance with the Scriptures"

Mom used to have these two paperback books she kept on the coffee table next to her Living Bible when I was a young teenager. That's been over forty-five years ago now, but I can still remember the covers of those two books clearly. It all came rushing back to me when I recently stumbled upon them in the course of my research on the second wave of the charismatic movement and its influence on and shaping of the "American Gospel." The second wave is the hardest to find information on, but what I've managed to uncover makes up for the lack.  

To say when my parents left our traditional Presbyterian church to join this second wave movement was like going from one extreme to the other would be a gross understatement. In fact, I don't even have words to describe the difference; I thought they had lost their minds. But Mom took it quite seriously, that's why I had to get my hands on those books recently and read them. 

I'm almost finished with the first one, and my initial concern is that everyone in the storyline seems to rush through the conversion process, accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior as fast as they can, qualifying them for the "good stuff," the real power of being baptized in the Holy Spirit, followed by a linguistic tutorial on how to begin speaking in tongues because that's the evidence that you received this second blessing of power, or so they said. Never mind what Paul said to the Corinthian Church in 1 Corinthians 12:30. 

The Gospel is never explained or unpacked. 

The Episcopal priest telling his story, who seems genuine and sincere, like an all-around nice guy, says that until he had this "experience" in his life of the second blessing and tongue speaking, he was dry and empty spiritually. 

It's funny because my "experience" was just the opposite. I "experienced" all of the charismatic "stuff" as a young adult, and there was a time when I wasn't sarcastic about it and genuinely asked to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, receiving prophecies, being "slain in the spirit," engaging in holy laughter. I admit that the red flags never quit flying for me; but nonetheless, I was still searching and open to it all and a willing participant. 

And yet I was still dry and empty by the time I reached by fortieth birthday. It was the summer my younger sister was battling cancer, and I still believed in all of the charismatic "stuff," now in addition to the Word of Faith and health-wealth nonsense. Whatever one may believe about the spiritual gifts, nothing should ever be elevated above the Gospel. 

Man, I was such a theological mess. But God began to unravel the tangles one thread at a time, as I've shared before, sitting in a Passion Conference listening to John Piper. You may not agree with everything Passion or Piper, but the point here is that God can use whatever he desires to reach a heart. 

And my heart began to open up that night to the Gospel. Why? Because the Bible tells us: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." ( Romans 10:17 )  

The Word of God is the means God uses by the power of his Holy Spirit to bring dead people to life, empty people to fullness, not spiritual gifts or experiences or personal revelations or the power of suggestion and manipulation through evocative music. 

"through the word of Christ." 

"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" ( Romans 1:16-17 ) 

It's funny because after that conference when I began studying my Bible, I learned the truth about the Holy Spirit's work from a Presbyterian minister, clearer and sounder teaching than I ever received from the group who supposedly had a corner on Him. 

But I still tested everything like the Bereans in Acts 17:10, and I still do. I don't want to be fooled anymore. The Bereans are an example for all of us. I don't fault my mom at all for her earlier beliefs, in fact, I wished I could have her back and enjoy theological conversations with her now that I'm not so biblically illiterate. I know the last ten years of her life, like mine, she grew away from aberrant doctrines and closer to the truth as we all do in our sanctification process. It's lifelong. It's grace. 

For all of this talk about the Gospel, what is the Gospel exactly? We have to get the Gospel right because believing a different gospel leads to damnation. That's the strong language Paul uses when he admonished the Galatians for so quickly deserting the grace of Christ for a different gospel. 

The Gospel isn't telling someone about Jesus and then leading them in a sinner's prayer never to be mentioned again. No, we never get beyond the Gospel. 

Paul spells out the Gospel to the Corinthians in no uncertain terms: 

"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you - unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: 

that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas ( Peter ), then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed!" 

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 

So I'm continuing in my research and study, Lord have mercy - it's time consuming. I don't have all of the answers by any stretch as to why the American church has gone in some of the directions it has. It's a mystery, but what I do know is that we aren't called to understand the complexity of history. We are called to understand the Scriptures. 

When we focus on the Bible, the rest of life tends to come into clearer vision as we pursue the ordinary means of grace. 

Also, off topic and on the opposite end, I'm curious and looking into the theological differences in Calvinism and Confessional Lutherism, if anyone has any resources they can recommend. 

Thanks!

Stay biblical, my friends! 

Happy Labor Day Weekend! 

Soli Deo Gloria! 

Another Archive Photo: Atlas and Kimba / Our farm cats have enjoyed the overflow of the dogs' livestock protection plan. Any farm animal or pet is consumed within their care.