Biblical truths that led me out of the charismatic movement
Do you get confused sometimes about things you see and hear in church, or from popular preachers?
If you have an illness or disease or other infirmity, are you told that if you just believe, you’ll be healed? People might not come out and say you need more faith, but that’s clearly the implication, because God wants you healed, and the problem can’t be Him, right?
If you are struggling financially, are you told that God wants you to prosper, and if you just press in in faith, or if you sow a seed of faith (meaning, money), you’ll finally get your breakthrough?
Have you heard people give prophecies, words from the Lord, that didn’t come true? Do you hear the same prophecies over and over, and it seems like everything is called “prophetic”?
Have you seen weird things like people falling down, people speaking in tongues all around you, and you wonder, does the Bible really teach that?
Do you hear preachers say things like God needs your permission to move in your life? That you need to release Him?
Do you hear people say we need to go see this anointed preacher? That we need to go to a certain place to enter into God’s presence?
And if you question these things or say you don’t see them in the Bible, you’re told that you’re quenching the Spirit and you’re missing out on what God has for you. You’re told not to touch the Lord’s anointed.
Is your walk with God like a roller coaster? You experience the highs, the mountaintops, and come back down to the same old, same old. You go to church to get your fix, to feel the goosebumps, to soak in His presence … and then, back to life.
And if something goes wrong in your life, you think, “Wait, this isn’t supposed to happen! This isn’t what I was promised! Where’s my breakthrough?”
Do you question whether God really loves you because you don’t experience the same things that some other Christians do? Do you even doubt your salvation?
God gives a way out
If any of this resonates with you, I want to give you hope. I want to give you a way out. I want you to know that God does love you, and you don’t have to jump through hoops for Him to accomplish His will in your life. You don’t need more faith. You don’t have to give more.
This was my Christian walk for many years. I was confused and frustrated for a long time, because the things I was taught and the things that I saw and experienced were not what the Bible teaches.
In churches like these, people look for God’s power in any place but the Bible. We look for miracles, for healings, for prophecies, for the anointing, for the experience, for the atmosphere. We’re told the power is in us, in our faith and our prayers.
But the true power is in the Bible, and it wasn’t until I really dove in and started to study the Scriptures that God led me out of this movement. Through the pages of His living and powerful word, God taught me the truths that set me free from my confusion and disillusionment, that got me off the roller coaster and onto a steady growth, and brought me to a place of stability, peace, confidence, assurance, and real faith that’s unshakable and immovable.
Here are four Biblical truths that changed my life and will change yours, too:
1. The power is in the word
What do you associate with the word power? Miracles? Sensations? People falling down?
No matter what sign or wonder happens in church — even if it’s genuine — you hold the most powerful thing in the room, the greatest miracle, in your hands at all times. The most powerful thing in the room is always the Bible.
Here are some verses that use the word power to describe God’s word:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. (Romans 1:16)
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
The words of Scripture are not just words on paper or a screen. They’re alive, and they’re working.
The work of the word is seen in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The Bible thoroughly equips us and makes us complete, or mature. God’s word gives us everything we need. It has all the power we need; it IS all the power we need.
I can personally attest to this. When I was in that movement, we would hear Bible verses here and there, which I came to learn were often taken out of context. There were even some services where we didn’t open our Bibles at all; the preacher would actually say, “You won’t need your Bibles today!” and it would be all “worship” or “ministry” time.
But now, I’m in a church where in every service, we go through a Bible passage verse by verse. A church that does that gives its people the full counsel of God, in context. That way, you know you’re hearing His word and not ours. That’s a power-packed, Spirit-filled church service. More Bible, more power. Nothing quenches the Spirit or results in a dead church more than keeping the Bible closed.
This has had a tremendous impact on my growth as a Christian.
The word of God also teaches the other three truths that can change your life:
2. God is absolutely sovereign
God has all power and authority in existence. He is absolutely omnipotent. He is sovereign over all time, space and matter. He is sovereign over every second of history and every atom in the universe.
God does whatever He wants, whenever He wants, to whomever He wants. Nothing happens outside of His authority, permission and control. Nothing or no one can ever hold Him back or exert any kind of power over Him.
Some in the charismatic movement may say they agree with all that. They’ll say God is in control, and their statements of faith may affirm that.
But I’ve heard many things said from their pulpits that undermine the sovereignty of God. Have you been told God can’t do something until you allow Him? That your words “activate” Him? That your faith controls Him in any way? “God can’t heal you if you don’t have faith!” “God can’t bless you unless you sow that seed!” “If you want something, you have to name it and claim it.” “You have to declare it, you have to decree it.”
Do you think it's all up to us to change things — in the church, in this nation, in our lives? That we have to take the first step? That’s a weak, impotent, puny god, not worthy of worship.
As long as we’re letting God do things, I’ll let God speak for Himself here:
Psalm 135:6 says “Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth.” If God wants to do it, He does it. He needs no one’s permission to do anything.
Daniel 4:35 says “He does according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” No one can restrict the hand of God. His will is the only will that’s needed to do whatever He wants.
In the New Testament, Ephesians 1:11 says, “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.” How many things? All things. Everything that happens is according to the counsel of God’s will.
Finally, Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). Jesus is Lord, and therefore has all power and all authority. There is no power that we can give Him; there is no authority that we can give Him.
This makes a difference in our lives, because if God is subservient to us in any way, if we control Him in any way, He’s not God; we are.
I really don’t want to be God; I’d be so bad at it. So would you. Thank God we don’t have to be.
We worship a big God, and here are some practical applications of that:
We don’t order Him around by “claiming” and “declaring” things. He’s not our vending machine.
We don’t have to work up an “atmosphere” for Him; let the prophets of Baal do that (1 Kings 18:26-29).
We don’t have to train ourselves to exercise His gifts; He distributes them as He pleases. You can read about that in 1 Corinthians 12.
We don’t bring about revival; He does.
We don’t save people or build His church; He does.
That is such a tremendous burden lifted from us. We can rest in God’s omnipotent power, knowing that not only does He work all things according to the counsel of His will, not only does He hold all things together (Colossians 1:17), but He works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). That promise doesn’t mean anything if God is not absolutely sovereign.
3. God is always with us
Again, most charismatics would say amen to that. But many of them undermine that truth with their teachings and practices.
In the Old Testament, the dwelling place of God on Earth was the temple in Jerusalem — specifically, the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber behind the veil, where only one man could enter one time per year.
Back then, God was an external God. There were times when He came down and interacted with men, but that interaction was external, and it happened only in certain times and places, with certain people, often in a spectacular manner — clouds of glory, lightning, earthquakes, people unable to stand in His presence.
A lot of churches today try to recreate that. We want the glory, the supernatural manifestation — something we can see, feel, and experience. Many churches speak of worship as ushering in or entering into His presence, as if His presence is something we experience in certain times and certain places. Many churches call their services a worship experience or an encounter, and advertise that. And many of these churches use Old Testament manifestations of God as their proof texts.
But here’s the thing: When Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn in half, from top to bottom, and a few weeks later, the Holy Spirit was poured out on all the church. Therefore, now, WE are the dwelling place of God on Earth. WE are the temple; WE are the Holy of Holies, all the time. God is now an internal God.
Paul teaches this several times to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 3:16 says, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
A few chapters later, 6:19, Paul writes, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?”
In 2 Corinthians, he writes, “For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’” This is the relationship with God we have now.
Jesus’ last words in Matthew’s gospel are “lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” We are always, always, always in the presence of God, every second of our lives.
There’s an old Keith Green song titled “So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt.” When I hear calls to interact with God in a sensory, experiential way, to have an “encounter” with Him, at a certain time in a certain place, I wonder (to paraphrase Keith Green), “So you wanna go back to the temple?” That’s Old Covenant thinking.
As important as it is to gather together, we don’t have to chase God’s presence. We don’t have to be in special places at special times to have an encounter with God. When someone says God is moving there or there, we can point to ourselves and say God is HERE, as much as there or there. He comes to US, wherever we are.
God is always with us, as powerfully as He was when His glory fell at the temple. He goes where we go. We can have an “encounter” with God, an “experience,” anywhere, anytime. I encounter God every day when I talk to Him, when I read His word, when I sing His praises. Those times have a more powerful impact on me than some event I have to go to, where we think His presence is known only by what we feel. God is always present, whether we sense it or not.
My final point is related to that:
4. It’s not about us
Another problem with using the word experience is that it’s a selfish word. It’s something we do and feel. The phrase “worship experience” is an oxymoron, because if it’s about what we experience, then it’s not worship.
So much of what churches do today is about us — our blessings, our miracles, our healings, our senses, our self-esteem, our feelings. To quote another Keith Green song, “Bless me Lord, bless me Lord, you know, that’s all I ever hear.”
We hear this in our music. A popular Christian song goes like this: “So hold your head up high / It’s your time to shine / From the inside out it shows / You’re worth more than gold.” In our music, gatherings, and media, we are constantly exalting each other.
God’s priority for His people is not our comfort, feelings, affirmation, self-esteem, liberty, politics, culture, health, wealth, or many other things that are preached in His name. In His sovereignty, God’s blessings may be in those areas from time to time, but they’re not His priority.
His priority is that we know Him more and become more like Him. In short, God’s priority is God.
If you get a few hours (that’s how long it might take), search the Scriptures and see how many things God does for the glory of His name. God’s glory is the purpose of everything. God’s glory is the end, and everything else is the means.
You can say this even about the cross. Yes, Jesus died for us, but more than that, it was so God’s name would be glorified. Jesus said this in John 12:27-28, “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.”
God does not share His glory. Everything we do and say must exalt Him, not ourselves. Like John the Baptist said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” As Jesus prayed, “not My will, but Yours be done.”
But you wouldn’t know it from what’s taught, sung and practiced in various churches today. For many of us, church is therapy. We’re consumers.
It’s a sad irony, because the peace and blessing we seek don’t come through focusing on self, but in denying self, as Jesus called us to do. Dying to self. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” That’s the victorious, abundant life. That’s the life we’re called to, and it’s so much better than the life we seek for ourselves.
Do you need this?
These four truths have changed my life. It’s been an awakening in my life, a revival.
You may be in a church like this, and you’re thinking, I’m good, I love my church, I’m fed here. If so, then great. I hope it’s for real, and I hope it stands the test of adversity when it comes.
But if this is something you’re longing for, if the things you’re hearing and seeing aren’t living up to their promises, if things just don’t seem right, then I encourage you to search the Scriptures to see if those things are so. That’s what the Bereans did in Acts 17:11, checking even Paul the apostle against the Scriptures. That passage calls them noble for doing that.
When you do that, as I did, you’ll find the joy, peace, strength, and rest that you’ve been promised so many times. God’s word may not remove the trials and sufferings of life, but He will get you through them, tested and refined like gold, and made holier like Him. Most importantly, He will be glorified in you.
