The Charismatic Movement

I was 18 when I first found the Lord, or rather the Lord found me. There was a charismatic renewal happening in our city, and I was greatly affected by the movement of the Holy Spirit at that time. Unfortunately, over time, the "flesh" began to take over, and slowly the ways and ideas of man with his manipulations, began to take over. The gifts of the Spirit were emphasized but unfortunately, in many cases, character was lacking. I read this today in a book written by Dutch Sheets called "The River of God'.

The charismatic movement, in spite of its strengths and blessings, in many ways glorified the wrong requirements for our running. Much of the error was directly related to impatience - 'NOWISM'. Speed and gifting, not wisdom and character, were the main criteria for ministry. The following tendancies manifested themselves in the movement:

*Knowledge was glorified over wisdom
*Revelation was exalted over sound doctrine
*Reaping was given priority over sowing
*The works of God replaced the ways of God
*Gifts and charisma took precedence over experience and understanding
*Instant gratification replaced endurance
*Formulas and how-to's replaced waiting on God
*Church growth and success seminars replaced prayer meetings and prayer watches
*Seasoning, training (discipleship) and wisdom were neglected for the sake of speed
*Action took priority over accountability - the ends began to justify the means
*Fathers without enough fire and speed were rejected - along with their wisdom - and our peers became our counselors. Fire counseled fire! The results? Fireworks. The problem? After a few bright flashes, it was over!

Speed and size spelled success. An instant gratification, buy-now/pay-later, live-for-today, humanistic world somehow succeeded in conforming much of the Church to its ways..

As someone who was a product of this movement and has had to learn many things the hard way as a result, I can attest to the truthfulness of these words..the overemphasis on power and miracles leads to sensationalism and actually a decrease in power. In Revelation 3:1,2 the church at Sardis had a name that it was alive, but it was dead. The church looked good and were "doing the right things" but the heart was not right.

I pray that the next move of God, would not just be a movement or a visitation of God, but our character would be such that God could trust us with his glory... that we would be his "habitation". We must learn to choose leaders based on character and not gifting. If Jesus learned obedience by what he suffered, how much more should we? Let us press on to maturity as we prepare for His great river of outpouring that has been prophesied for the last days. Anything less than this is suicidal.