This one is the last of several blogs to deal with this issue. It is has lead up to the final misconception for the need of being drunk in the Spirit. Some have gotten back to me as to why tackle this issue if it is not hurting anyone else and the person(s) or churches are happy with infusion of excitement it brings to their members. My concern in observing the state of the modern Charismatic movement that the motivation for behavior has become what ever happens when someone closes their eyes and imagines it to be, regardless of what is actually happening around them, is the truth.
I will be so bold to tie this into the current election in the United States. God told me my candidate is supposed to be president. We know that Satan opposes the will of God, so if my candidate does not become president it is because those who did not vote for him/her are aligned with Satan. As a result Satan is out to get me by taking away my political rights and I must act to reclaim my country for God or I will be the target of persecution. So I must go to DC to protest this election and show that I am not afraid to stand up to the other party in league with Satan. This line of thinking began with an internal belief that could never be verified, “God told me.”
Teaching Christians to beleive that what ever pops into their minds while “slain in the Spirit” must be God speaking to them defies anything taught within Scripture. Take a look at how young David was when he was anointed king and how long it was before he acted on that calling. It was years of vetting that thought before others. Take a look at how long it took from the time that the apostle Paul had his Damascus road experience and what it took for him to vet out what happened and he actually fulfilled that call, it was years. Now it is God spoke to someone on November 4th the election was stolen as God’s choice lost. And by January 6th a protest from God, turned into a mob, turned into riot, turned into an attempted insurrection, had all transpired. All because someone who claimed to be a prophet reported “God told Me” with no way to vet what was being said by others.
There is a song out there by Katy Perry. The song glorifies the aspect of how they got sooo drunk that there behavior was detrimental to the ability to make sound judgment. But it was sooo much fun she cant wait to do it again. Many a Charismatic/Pentecostal has sung that tune, but only changed the words. This practice is known as getting “drunk in the Spirit.” And I would contend that even if one is drunk in the Spirit, one is not making sound choices (see previous posts).
The other big scipture people use is from the day of Pentecost where Peter says:
- Acts 2:15 NASB – 15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is [only] the third hour of the day;
The reasoning goes they must have acted like they were drunk or Peter would not have to state other wise. And that is such poor reasoning. Let us rewind.
- Holy Spirit Falls in the Upper Room and the disciples speak in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance.
- They then spill out of the room onto the street and people who are from other countries hear them in their native tongues
- The Pharisees realize what is happening so they tell the parts of the crowd that cant speak foreign languages that they must be drunk, not because they were acting drunk, but in effort to discredit them.
- Acts 2:7-15 NASB – 7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 “And how is it that we each hear [them] in our own language to which we were born? 9 “Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs–we hear them in our [own] tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” 12 And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.” 14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 15 “For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is [only] the third hour of the day;
The unspoken theology is that when the Holy Spirit falls on you will act drunk. Nowhere is it ever indicated that they behaved in a drunken fashion. Only that the ignorant mocked them.
There are two basic ways of reading the Bible.
- The first is known as Isegesis – what one reads into the text. I was taught to do XYZ by my church. The bible uses the same term XYZ. Therefore every time XYZ is mentioned in scripture it refers to my church’s practice of XYZ.
- The second is Exogesis – what one gets out of the text. I was taught by my church ABC. The Bible uses the term ABC. However, just because the term ABC is used in scripture does not necessarily carry the same meaning as when we use ABC today. Therefore I must study the Bible to see how my behavior compares and contrasts to what was written almost 2000 years ago. (Most Charismatic Christians from my experience do not like the second option, because that may mean that someone who goes off to a Bible College or Seminary, and has more education, may more clearly understand what was written. And they may conflict with what pops into their head of what they beleive was God speaking to them. And if God spoke to them the true meaning of the text, then those who have studied the issue are being mislead.) The Jesus speaking in their head is always right. It is always the person who disagrees with them are the ones that are mislead, because in the end “God told me.“
And this is exactly why God gave guidelines in the Old Testament on how to verify if God was speaking to someone:
- Deuteronomy 13:1-3 NASB – 1 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
or
- Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NASB – 20 ‘But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ 21 “You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ 22 “When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
“God told me and that settles it” never settles it. And being drunk in the Spirit is one of those issues that no matter how many times it is upheld as acceptable by practice, it can not be upheld by the words of the Holy Spirit through Scripture. Only that “God told me it was ok.”
And so I close out this series. Love much my friends . . .
Unspoken Theology 