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* Child of the Charismatic Movement
* The Presence of the Lord
* Betrayal in the Church
* Opposition & Obstacles
* Conflict Management
* Something Better than the Baptism!
* Something is Happening
* Laying Foundations: Training by Trial
* What is the Work of the Ministry?
* To See with Spiritual Eyes
* Discovering True Spiritual Ministry
 

Child of the Charismatic Movement

I was saved when I was 8 years old (in 1964) and filled with the Holy Spirit when I was 13 years old. My parents joined a Charismatic retreat camp as staff members when I was 15. We lived and worked at the retreat camp through the peak years of the Charismatic Renewal. During the summers there were camp revival meetings morning and evening, every day. During the winter we hosted weekend retreats. We also participated in conferences and seminars in other parts of the country, and my family attended the historic Charismatic Conference on the Holy Spirit in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We experienced all the highlights and intensity of that great renewal beginning with the early days of home fellowships in the late 60's, through the peak years of revival camps and conferences (1970 to 1975) and then through the waning years of the late 70's.

I have been a servant of the Charismatic organizatons and churches most of my life. As a teenager, I cleaned the bathrooms and babysat the children. As an adult, I sewed and cleaned and cooked and taught and worked and organized and served in every possible way that I could put my energy into serving the churches where I attended. Eventually I was employed at a Charismatic church and served every department through my computer skills.

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The Presence of the Lord

I remember the excitement of the early Charismatic renewal, but I have also remembered something else which many have forgotten or possibly they never knew about it... I remember the Presence of the Lord during the early 70's especially. However, since 1975 I have noticed the vital awareness of the Presence of the Lord diminish until, in the past five years or more I have not been able to find much if any of that very special refreshing in church meetings at all.

This statement is not something that can be proven. How can we prove whether the Presence of the Lord is greater or lesser, present or not present? How do we know whether one person is being blessed during church worship while another is not, and what are the reasons?

Therefore, my statement about the Presence of the Lord is very subjective. It is as subjective as my personal testimony of salvation. We know that our personal testimony of salvation does have truth and it does have power. So, I speak only as one who was there, in the beginning of the Charismatic renewal and who experienced the vital moments of that renewal. I have talked with others who confirm my testimony and say that this is their testimony as well. Those of us who were part of the Charismatic renewal in the early 1970's remember something that is missing now. We remember something better.

I am only a servant. I do not have any material possessions and I don't have any fame or fortune. I am poor. I don't have a husband or children. I was never married. So, I have had nothing in all these years, that others have had. Maybe that is why I remembered what was truly important about the Charismatic move of God... because the sweet Presence of the Lord during those years was and is the great joy I have known in my life, and He has been my motivation.

If the fact that I am a nobody with nothing is the reason why I have clearly remembered the most vital part of the Charismatic renewal, then perhaps I am blessed more than most.

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Betrayal in the Church

Eventually I became very desperate for the Presence of the Lord in worship. At the same time, I was involved in a spiritual battle at my church. It is not my intention to share details of my experience in this book, because I don't want to speak against any particular church or ministry. Besides, I think that my experience is actually rather generic. It happens to many... Someone envied my position in a church ministry, then manipulated a way to take over, lied a little and forced me to the point where I resigned from the ministry.

Then, the same people continued to hinder another project I was working on that was for missions. They did everything possible to discourage and hinder and put obstacles in my path so that I was very discouraged about finishing it, but I did finish it. One of the people who was working against me was a pastor of the church, the other was an elder. The senior pastor supported them in all decisions.

The project was harmless: I was working on a beginner English reading program for missionaries to use overseas. There was no reason to oppose my work, which I was doing alone on my own time under the direction of professional people who approved and supervised my work... but when and where my pastors could bring opposition, they did.

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Opposition & Obstacles

The Apostle Paul does warn about situations such as this... Romans 16:17-20 "I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites."

The obstacles I encountered were unnecessary and very hurtful personally. As a result of this experience, I learned how much a church can hurt their people. And, it was this experience that forced me to see things I had not been willing to see before. I saw that I was not the only one who was being hurt. I saw selfishness and control. Until I personally was wounded, I had not known these things were going on but after that I did know, and I could not ignore it. I also could not trust my pastors any longer.

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Conflict Management

Prior to working at the church, I worked for my father for 12 years. He is a human resources consultant and I had assisted him with many seminars on people management. I knew all the leadership tests, all the personality studies... I had read the professional HR magazines and I was very well qualified to identify "management style."

During the time that these conflicts were going on at church, I had also been reading articles about conflict management. This was not intentional. I would find articles while waiting in a doctor's office, or someone would hand me a magazine to read. These things were accidentally coming across my path. I also completed a 20 hour correspondence course on conflict and stress management on the job. This correspondence course was for the purpose of renewing my nursing license.

In all these things I was reading, I was amazed to see that "the world" knew more about developing healthy professional relationships than the church did!

How can the church ever become a "family" if we are not able to develop normal, healthy relationships as we work together in the house of the Lord? How can we set an example for the world if we do not know how to manage conflicts fairly among ourselves? How is it possible for Christians to excuse our selfish behavior? How will the world know we are Christians if we are unable to love one another?

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Something Better than the Baptism!

The Charismatic renewal was a revival of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but it was not a renewal of love. The Charismatics ultimately fulfilled Paul's prophecy that without love, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not profitable. Without love we are a clanging gong and a sounding cymbal (I Cor. 13:1)

Actually, I think that the current condition of the Charismatic churches was inevitable. I Corinthians 13 may very well have been a prophecy of what would happen to the Charismatics eventually. There were problems with control and leadership issues from the beginning. And, as the glory of God's Presence faded into the 70's, those problems gradually got worse and worse. In the past 30 years I have personally been part of four different Charismatic churches that went through severe church splits and scandal. I had nothing to do with any of it; I was not in a position to be involved. In addition, we have seen national Charismatic leaders bring disgrace upon the church.

I think that God may have intentionally planned or allowed for the Charismatics to take the progressive path that they have, in order to reveal a better way. For example, we know that the Old Testament Law was a "setup" in order to reveal that human effort was impossible and that salvation through Jesus Christ is necessary. The cross of Jesus Christ is a far better covenant than the Law.

I think the Charismatic renewal was possibly a "setup" to show that the power of God without the love of God is a terrible thing. Even Lucifer still has the power that God initially gave him, but of what value is it? Anything that opposes the love of God becomes hideous and evil.

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Something is Happening

The Charismatic renewal was what God intended it to be: it was glorious. And, I believe that even now it is exactly what God intended it to be. He wants to show Christians the dangers that are inherent in the spiritual gifts.

Remember... Since the Garden of Eden men and women have been learning about the knowledge of good and evil. And, in the past 30 years, the Church has learned that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are good, but we need something better! So, God is now going to reveal to us the ultimate power, the ultimate weapon... God has already begun to reveal the knowledge of God's love to the wise leaders and teachers of the Church. This is something that is even better than good, and it is coming.

I am convinced that the next outpouring of God's Presence will be one of Love. Darkness has increased so much upon the earth that God is pulling out His last and greatest weapon. The small fires of God's sweet renewal have been sparking in some places, and God has been drawing His exiles out of the wilderness. Something is happening.

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Laying Foundations: Training by Trial

Many people are trained and ready for this new outpouring, but they don't know it because they have been so persecuted and misunderstood they are afraid they are not wanted or needed by anyone. Actually, God has been preparing these wounded ones to minister His love in the next visitation. They just don't know, yet, what they have been prepared for. They don't know that they are like Joseph in prison, who was raised up overnight to be premier of Egypt. When Joseph was installed in his new position, he was fully trained for the job. But, how could he have known his future... as he ate his prison swill for dinner every night?

God will need people who are specially trained for the work of the ministry. They are the leaders which He has been preparing. Why do I know this? Because the Godly leaders of the Charismatic renewal were prepared in just the same way, and they were ready and available when needed. Those mature Charismatic leaders went through their own trial by fire before being raised up to lead the renewal that began in the late 1960's. Many of those men and women of God are retired now and some are in heaven.

The Charismatic ministries are mostly in the hands of second and third generation leaders at this time, who did not experience the spiritually difficult years of "training" in the 60's. The hardships then were foundational for the work of God that was so evident in the 70's.

Perhaps this is what happening again, now. I believe that many dedicated Christians have been experiencing trials in the past decade, which will prepare them to minister the agape love of God in the next decade.

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What is the Work of the Ministry?

God is preparing people for the work of the ministry... but, what does this mean?

The best way to illustrate the "work of the ministry" is to tell you what it is NOT. The work of the ministry does not involve dishing up soup, handing out bread, stacking used clothing on shelves, marching in parades, manning carnival booths and supervising the moon walk at the harvest festival. All of these activities are typical of churches now-a-days. We are running rodeos, car washes, concerts, exercise classes, homeless outposts, community education classes, and a host of relief and benevolence efforts. All of this is very good. And, the world could be doing it just as well as we are. In fact, the world is doing it just as well as we are. The "work of the ministry" should not be just busy work!

I know that these activities do bring newcomers and unchurched people to the church. That's good! Or is it? Maybe it is not good, if the churches are not prepared to minister to these new people! If we don't actually have any spiritual manna to offer our visitors, why did we invite them? This is a frightening question, actually.

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To See with Spiritual Eyes

2Kings 6:17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

Elisha knew about the army that was around him. He was aware of it, and possibly he even saw it. The young man who was with Elisha did not see the spiritual armies that protected the prophet. He only saw the natural circumstances, which were hopeless.

As Christians, our life is not entirely natural. We have engaged in a spiritual battle. We desire to have heaven on earth, but the Bible says that will not happen until Jesus returns to earth. The battle rages until then. If we are to be effective as Christians, we must have spiritual eyes to see the battle that we are part of. Discernment is a spiritual gift - it is the ability to accurately discern the spiritual nature of things.

I Cor. 12:4-11 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

Some people do not need any encouragement but are always in "spiritual mode." There are Christians who see angels and demons around every corner, or think they do. Maybe they do. But mostly they seem to be very busy seeing things.

Notice that the prophet Elisha and the young man saw the same thing - they saw warriors protecting them. Discernment is not an individual thing, it is mutual and meets agreement with other Christians who sense the same things. It takes time and patience, trial and error to learn how to be spiritually discerning. There is a maturing process involved.

Elisha saw the armies because he lived in that spiritual place of discernment; he was accustomed to it by long practice. The young man was learning what Elisha himself had learned as a young apprentice under the training of Elijah. None of us are born with this discernment but the Bible does say that we can desire all the spiritual gifts and we can ask God for wisdom:

I James 1:5-6 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind;

Hosea 14:9 - Those who are wise understand these things; those who are discerning know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

It is good to seek for spiritual gifts. It is wise to ask God for wisdom. Our spiritual growth must begin with these desires. We must seek for spiritual awareness, ask for it, exercise our faith and work for it. We are not spiritually mature until we do. This passage in Hebrews is very forceful:

Hebrews 5:13-14 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

We are learning what good and evil are. It is the task that is set before us. We dare not waste our opportunity. God needs workers now. He needs people who can see with spiritual eyes and operate in the spiritual gifts as Elisha did. At first, Elisha's servant saw only half of what was happening on the mountainside - Elisha saw everything.

If you had stood beside Elisha that day, what would you have seen?

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Discovering True Spiritual Ministry

I have seen the congregation so wrapped up in busy, busy, busy activity that people barely have time for themselves or for family. There is no doubt in fact, that families are being neglected. Friendship evangelism with co-workers and neighbors is being neglected. Bible study is being neglected, and home fellowship. We have not developed our spiritual ministry skills! Let the world run the car washes and the moon walk... we need to learn to be ministers! We need to see the world with spiritual eyes.

The workers of the harvest are spiritual workers. God is calling for spiritual workers. God needs apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, pastors, and more. The ministry gifts should be abundant and commonplace within the church. There should be gifted ministers at many levels of maturity who are being encouraged to develop their spiritual gifts.

The church and the world need more people who are genuinely spiritual and discerning. Do you desire holiness in your own life? Do you crave a greater knowledge of the love of God? Are you looking for something better?

I Corinthians 12:28-31 "And God hath set some in the church: first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracle workers, then those with gifts of healing, helpers, administrators, and those with diversity of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts..."

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