Originally written on September 11, 2014
One thing I've noticed about the church today is how so many believe in the following ideas:
- Being able to prophesy: their idea of prophecy is that you can tell future events
- Speaking in tongues: their idea of speaking in tongues is that you speak some sort of unknown or ancient language you had no way of knowing
- Declaring promises over their lives: they do this in the same style that pagans declare curses over their enemies
- Abandoning faith for prideful arrogance: believing that because we're protected by God, Satan can't tempt us or try to destroy our lives
- Believing that because Jesus took our sins upon Him, that we can demand sickness leave our bodies, tying in with the declaration of promises above
- Speaking of visions of angels and demons, Jesus Himself, or, in some cases, claim visits to heaven or hell and back
- Believing that you don't necessarily receive the Holy Spirit at salvation, and that you must encounter a second event -- known often as "baptism of the Spirit", but not aligning with the Biblical truths on said event -- in order to receive the Holy Spirit
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Those ideas above may have some scriptural support, but I've found that these ideas tend to twist the Bible in one way or another. Let's go over my list in response to the ideas above.
1. The gift of prophecy is not necessarily the ability to foretell events, for if that were the case, I think a lot more people would be able to see future events: Biblical prophecy is obscure for a reason, God doesn't want us knowing all about the future aside from that He will be victorious. Instead, the gift of prophecy, when referred to in the list of Spiritual gifts, is more than likely referring to a use of the word which could also mean, "Discernment". In other words, people who have the gift of prophecy are able to discern truth from the lies, or even seek out truth in the midst of a sea of lies. It's not necessarily some crazy supernatural event.
2. The gift of tongues is not likely referring to speaking in ancient or unknown languages, but rather, it could be one or a combination of the following. It most likely refers to the supernatural ability to speak your words and others hear such words in their own language, just as the multitudes at Pentecost heard from the Apostles who spoke in tongues. They weren't sitting there babbling away in unknown languages, for if they were, what purpose would it serve? They'd be written off as madmen! Instead, the Holy Spirit gave them this gift so that they could speak the Gospel and that the multitude could hear it in their own language. It also could potentially refer to the ability to easily learn other languages, or be granted knowledge in a certain language you knew nothing about for the sake of spreading the Gospel. Or, perhaps, it could be all three of those things.
3. Do we have to declare God's promises over our lives in order to benefit from them? Absolutely not. There's not a single passage in the Bible that tells us that we must invoke the promise to be blessed. If that were true, why are countless Christians being blessed by God's promises without even declaring those promises over their own lives. In example, "For I know the plans I have for you..." etc. If God knows the plans He has for us, and that those plans are to prosper us (spiritually and eternally) rather than harm us, does that even slightly imply to you that you have to say, "I declare that God knows the plans He has for me!"? See how silly that sounds? God's promises to us are in His hands, not our own: He will fulfill His promises regardless of whether or not we ask, because He is a faithful and loving God.
4. The Bible says that Satan will tempt us because we're involved in a spiritual war (Ephesians 6:10-18). If that's the case, and we already have determined that Satan will succeed in tempting us beyond the breaking point from time to time (1 John 2:1), then how on earth do we get the notion that because Jesus protects us, we can't be affected by Satan's temptation? I don't know if I really need to go on much more on this one.
5. Jesus, when He was on the cross, bore our iniquity so that we can be forgiven when we trust in Him. The Bible never said Jesus bore our sickness, it says He bore our sins (Isaiah 53:5) so that we could be saved. Therefore, neither our salvation nor the sheer presence of the Holy Spirit give us the power to demand sickness leave our body. What the Bible DOES say, however, is that if anyone is sick among us, he should be anointed by the elders and prayed for by the church (James 5:14). Prayer, our direct petition to God, is FAR more effective in healing than any words we can speak, for this world -- including sickness -- does not listen to US, as we are not its creator. It will only listen to the One who gave it life.
6. Some people claim to have seen angels, demons, heaven and/or hell, or even Jesus Himself: some say it was a vision or dream, and others say it was a physical manifestation. I feel this is a pretty tricky matter, and there really is no way to test the validity of such claims other than seeing what the individual claims the apparition said to them. Many cases of this are merely for attention or to try to display some sort of higher level of piety or devotion. That being said, I've encountered some so-called Christians who claim that unless you see a vision of Jesus, you're not truly saved, but Jesus Himself strikes a big hole in that idea. (John 20:29) I believe there may be some cases where we encounter angels and demons in human form through life, and I believe that SOME visions of angels and demons may be real- however, I'm not so sure Jesus would really manifest Himself to us while we're still here on earth, and I believe that once someone goes to heaven or hell, they're there for eternity.
7. Ahh, Pentecostalism. There are so many who adhere to this denomination. Typically, Pentecostalism claims that the Holy Spirit dwells within you only after having a "baptism of the Spirit" event. In other words, they take the story about the Holy Spirit's arrival at Pentecost and claim that every incident of salvation is like this. Honestly, I believe the Pentecost was when the Holy Spirit first came on to mankind after Jesus' ascension- not implying that the two events -- salvation and baptism of the Spirit -- are separate events. If that were the case, we'd have a lot of faith-filled Christians doomed because they never "received the Holy Spirit" in a separate event: Paul said that if the Spirit is not in us, we aren't God's. (Romans 8:9) Another interesting belief of the Pentecostal church is that they believe when you receive the Holy Spirit in this second event, it's evidenced by speaking in tongues, and NOT the kind of tongues that the Bible describes the Apostles speaking at Pentecost: they believe you'll speak unknown/archaic languages.
--
I try to avoid speaking ill of other beliefs within the church, as it's not place to judge people, but I really felt the need to discuss the above ideas because they've been hitting me left and right recently wherever I turn. It seems more and more are buying into the idea without realizing their lack of Biblical support. Maybe I'm just being a skeptic, but I will always hold the Bible as the only source of absolute truth in the world.
- Being able to prophesy: their idea of prophecy is that you can tell future events
- Speaking in tongues: their idea of speaking in tongues is that you speak some sort of unknown or ancient language you had no way of knowing
- Declaring promises over their lives: they do this in the same style that pagans declare curses over their enemies
- Abandoning faith for prideful arrogance: believing that because we're protected by God, Satan can't tempt us or try to destroy our lives
- Believing that because Jesus took our sins upon Him, that we can demand sickness leave our bodies, tying in with the declaration of promises above
- Speaking of visions of angels and demons, Jesus Himself, or, in some cases, claim visits to heaven or hell and back
- Believing that you don't necessarily receive the Holy Spirit at salvation, and that you must encounter a second event -- known often as "baptism of the Spirit", but not aligning with the Biblical truths on said event -- in order to receive the Holy Spirit
--
Those ideas above may have some scriptural support, but I've found that these ideas tend to twist the Bible in one way or another. Let's go over my list in response to the ideas above.
1. The gift of prophecy is not necessarily the ability to foretell events, for if that were the case, I think a lot more people would be able to see future events: Biblical prophecy is obscure for a reason, God doesn't want us knowing all about the future aside from that He will be victorious. Instead, the gift of prophecy, when referred to in the list of Spiritual gifts, is more than likely referring to a use of the word which could also mean, "Discernment". In other words, people who have the gift of prophecy are able to discern truth from the lies, or even seek out truth in the midst of a sea of lies. It's not necessarily some crazy supernatural event.
2. The gift of tongues is not likely referring to speaking in ancient or unknown languages, but rather, it could be one or a combination of the following. It most likely refers to the supernatural ability to speak your words and others hear such words in their own language, just as the multitudes at Pentecost heard from the Apostles who spoke in tongues. They weren't sitting there babbling away in unknown languages, for if they were, what purpose would it serve? They'd be written off as madmen! Instead, the Holy Spirit gave them this gift so that they could speak the Gospel and that the multitude could hear it in their own language. It also could potentially refer to the ability to easily learn other languages, or be granted knowledge in a certain language you knew nothing about for the sake of spreading the Gospel. Or, perhaps, it could be all three of those things.
3. Do we have to declare God's promises over our lives in order to benefit from them? Absolutely not. There's not a single passage in the Bible that tells us that we must invoke the promise to be blessed. If that were true, why are countless Christians being blessed by God's promises without even declaring those promises over their own lives. In example, "For I know the plans I have for you..." etc. If God knows the plans He has for us, and that those plans are to prosper us (spiritually and eternally) rather than harm us, does that even slightly imply to you that you have to say, "I declare that God knows the plans He has for me!"? See how silly that sounds? God's promises to us are in His hands, not our own: He will fulfill His promises regardless of whether or not we ask, because He is a faithful and loving God.
4. The Bible says that Satan will tempt us because we're involved in a spiritual war (Ephesians 6:10-18). If that's the case, and we already have determined that Satan will succeed in tempting us beyond the breaking point from time to time (1 John 2:1), then how on earth do we get the notion that because Jesus protects us, we can't be affected by Satan's temptation? I don't know if I really need to go on much more on this one.
5. Jesus, when He was on the cross, bore our iniquity so that we can be forgiven when we trust in Him. The Bible never said Jesus bore our sickness, it says He bore our sins (Isaiah 53:5) so that we could be saved. Therefore, neither our salvation nor the sheer presence of the Holy Spirit give us the power to demand sickness leave our body. What the Bible DOES say, however, is that if anyone is sick among us, he should be anointed by the elders and prayed for by the church (James 5:14). Prayer, our direct petition to God, is FAR more effective in healing than any words we can speak, for this world -- including sickness -- does not listen to US, as we are not its creator. It will only listen to the One who gave it life.
6. Some people claim to have seen angels, demons, heaven and/or hell, or even Jesus Himself: some say it was a vision or dream, and others say it was a physical manifestation. I feel this is a pretty tricky matter, and there really is no way to test the validity of such claims other than seeing what the individual claims the apparition said to them. Many cases of this are merely for attention or to try to display some sort of higher level of piety or devotion. That being said, I've encountered some so-called Christians who claim that unless you see a vision of Jesus, you're not truly saved, but Jesus Himself strikes a big hole in that idea. (John 20:29) I believe there may be some cases where we encounter angels and demons in human form through life, and I believe that SOME visions of angels and demons may be real- however, I'm not so sure Jesus would really manifest Himself to us while we're still here on earth, and I believe that once someone goes to heaven or hell, they're there for eternity.
7. Ahh, Pentecostalism. There are so many who adhere to this denomination. Typically, Pentecostalism claims that the Holy Spirit dwells within you only after having a "baptism of the Spirit" event. In other words, they take the story about the Holy Spirit's arrival at Pentecost and claim that every incident of salvation is like this. Honestly, I believe the Pentecost was when the Holy Spirit first came on to mankind after Jesus' ascension- not implying that the two events -- salvation and baptism of the Spirit -- are separate events. If that were the case, we'd have a lot of faith-filled Christians doomed because they never "received the Holy Spirit" in a separate event: Paul said that if the Spirit is not in us, we aren't God's. (Romans 8:9) Another interesting belief of the Pentecostal church is that they believe when you receive the Holy Spirit in this second event, it's evidenced by speaking in tongues, and NOT the kind of tongues that the Bible describes the Apostles speaking at Pentecost: they believe you'll speak unknown/archaic languages.
--
I try to avoid speaking ill of other beliefs within the church, as it's not place to judge people, but I really felt the need to discuss the above ideas because they've been hitting me left and right recently wherever I turn. It seems more and more are buying into the idea without realizing their lack of Biblical support. Maybe I'm just being a skeptic, but I will always hold the Bible as the only source of absolute truth in the world.
