A Caution for Charismatic Christians

Within the family of the Christian faith, those that define themselves as charismatic offer many strengths to the Body of Christ. Among them are a desire for genuine worship, an emphasis on prayer and fasting and a strong belief that God still intervenes in miraculous ways today.

However, these strengths can easily become weaknesses when taken to extremes. A spiritual "anointing" can become justification for sexual indiscretion. A spiritual experience can be considered worship whether God is in the picture or not. And naive folks looking for a miracle can be taken in by Elmer Gantry-type preachers.

But, of course, all Christians are susceptible to allowing the strengths of their churches become weaknesses. Many churches and denominations are so set on getting their doctrinal statements all lined up in a row that they miss God in the process. Christianity becomes a set of theoretical beliefs rather than a life that is transformed. We all need to do some self-examination on whether the faith we are experiencing and believe in is real and genuine.

J. Lee Grady, editor for Charisma magazine, one of the leading magazines for charismatic Christians, has some choice words for his brethren. He has this to say:

"It's ironic that our society does not tolerate sloppy building, yet in the charismatic church we place little emphasis on code enforcement. In fact, in our freewheeling movement we celebrate the independent spiritual contractor who uses questionable materials and answers to no one. Much of our movement during the past 30 years has been built like this—and today we are discovering that what we thought was sturdy was actually stuck together with cheap nails, substandard wood, thin glue and duct tape."

Although the following suggestions from Grady may be directed towards those within his stream of Christianity, I certainly think they apply for all of us that consider ourselves Christians. Here are four areas that he chooses to focus on:

1. Sexual purity. It should go without saying that church leaders must live in moral and marital faithfulness. Yet when we look around today we find that ministries are tolerant of flippant divorce, hidden adultery and even unspeakable perversion. Some ministers admit to serious moral failures yet they never step out of ministry even for a week to get counseling. God has issued His clear warning. Ministries that tolerate sexual sin are already crumbling. It does not matter how big your auditorium is, how massive your television outreach, how many people shout during Sunday sermons or how enduring your spiritual legacy may seem. You can preach about God's grace all you want, but you are trampling on that grace if you continue to practice immorality.
2. Financial integrity. Jesus drove the greedy moneychangers out of His temple with a whip. He requires faithfulness of His stewards. Ministries that have committed spiritual extortion will have a day of reckoning—not necessarily with the IRS but certainly with the heavenly Auditor. Those who sell prophecies or charge $1,000 to gullible people to make them "spiritual sons" will soon lose their platforms. Those who misuse God's money to buy Bentleys, vacation homes and expensive clothes and shoes will soon experience the Great Repo.
3. Christlike humility. We cannot build God's house with pride and carnality. In the early days of our movement God winked at our immaturity—but we have no excuse today. Mature leaders should act like servants, not rock stars or mafia bosses. We must trade in our entourages and high-minded demands and return to the way of the Master—which includes the manger (humble beginnings), the donkey (a humble ministry style) and the towel (serving those we are called to lead). God resists the proud, and any church that embraces the bless-me gospel of egotistical charlatans will not enjoy His manifest presence.
4. Theological soundness. We can walk in humility, integrity and purity and still fail if we mix error with truth. We must preach Christ and Him crucified. We must contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints. We must guard the flock from deception and avoid the subtle lies and compromises that creep in from our culture and from occult influences. In segments of our movement today, charismatic theology has been diluted with New Age spirituality, universalism, pop psychology, Gnosticism, false prophecy and just plain weirdness. We need to reactivate the neglected gift of discernment and get rid of the theological hay and stubble that has caused our movement to lose its credibility.

As was mentioned, all of these areas need to be given due attention whether one considers themself to be Charismatic, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic or non-denominational. A church that is made up of humble, morally pure, financially trustworthy people who are committed to God's Word will cause the world to take notice. Unfortunately, a prideful, immoral, deceitful, wishy-washy people will do the same -- but for all the wrong reasons.

The Orlando Magic & April Fools

Lori and I were able to have a fun time last night along with a couple of our kids at the Orlando Magic vs. the Toronto Raptors game last night. Thanks to the Orlando public school system, Brennan and Leah received free tickets for their good grades this year. Of course, Lori and I had to pay for ours (nothing is completely free in the land of Mickey Mouse.)

It was a good game and we had a great time with the kids. But the best time of the night came at halftime. Earlier in the game, they had selected a random fan to try to make a half-court short in order to win $100,000. Halftime rolled around and the announcer informed us that the guy was going to be blindfolded during his shot attempt.

He also told us that the whole arena was going to act as if the man made the shot so that we could play an April Fool's Day joke on him. So dude comes out and gets blindfolded. He heaves up a pathetic shot and the whole place erupts. The mascots start jumping on him, music blaring, lights are flashing and he's told that he made the shot. Once it sinks in, the guy starts running around the floor celebrating like crazy.

The announcer asks him what he'll do with the 100 grand and he says that he was just laid off from his job so this is all great. They then give him one of those fake, over sized checks (made out for $100,000) and have him turn it around. On the back, it says "April Fools." The guy looks dumbfounded, embarrassed and somewhat angry. The announcer explains that his girlfriend, who is there, set him up and this is all in good fun. They then had him a 100 Grand candy bar and send him on his way.

A great April Fool's Day joke, huh? Albeit cruel, but funny, right? Well, it appears the joke was on us. According to Orlando Sentinel sports writer, David Whitley, the guy was actually an actor and the only people who got fooled were those of us in the stands. I felt bad for the guy so finding that out was a great topping to a great evening.

The Spartans, Detroit & The Final Four

Although I am a die hard Michigan Wolverine fan, I couldn't helped but be pleased to see the Michigan State Spartans advance to the Final Four once again. Not only is this Coach Tom Izzo's fifth trip to the sacred ground of college basketball, but this year's event happens to be taking place in the once proud, now struggling city of Detroit.

I have commented before on the current realities of Detroit and the state of Michigan so I won't go into all that again. I no longer reside in Michigan, but my heart remains there. So it is good to see something that the state can be proud of and to see it happening in our major city tops it off.

As I already mentioned, my loyalties lie with the Wolverines, but I have the utmost respect for the Michigan State basketball program. They consistently play well-coached, team basketball and can hang with anybody in the country (as evidenced by Sunday's win over my favorite to win the NCAA tourney, Louisville.)

Jemele Hill, a native of Detroit and now a writer for ESPN, has written another superb article on the Motor City. You can read her complete piece here, but here's a highlight:

"The opportunity to play in our state, especially with some of the struggles [the state of Michigan] has gone through this past year, I guess I felt a little bit like hopefully we can be, you know, the sun shining through some pretty cloudy areas," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said.
"But it seems like a lot of people are happy for Michigan State and Detroit, even if they don't fully understand how important this is. Most people I know aren't Michigan State supporters, yet as soon as the Spartans beat Louisville, my cell phone practically turned into an active heart defibrillator. Text messages flew in from everywhere. I'm starting to think that during Final Four week, Detroit's official license plate slogan should be changed to, "The 4 is in the D!" because I must have received that text message about 263 times."
"We've always stated our team's a blue-collar team ever since I came here -- and there's no better blue-collar city than Detroit and all the things they go through," Izzo said."