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May/June 1995 |
Laugh, I Nearly Cried...
JOHANNES FACIUS — who recently visited theToronto Airport Vineyard Church - sees cause for Joy,and sadness, at the latest ‘Blessing’ to reach thecharismatic church
IT IS IMPORTANT to say at the very outset of this article that there is no reason to fear anything concerned with the so-called ‘Toronto Blessing.’ Fear is not of the Lord, is a bad motive for discerning anything, and leads only to misconceptions and over-reactions.
We are dealing with things associated with our brothers and sisters in the Lord, our family in the body of Christ, who are saved by the same precious Saviour as we are, and washed in the same precious blood.
Having said that, there is no guarantee that they will not make mistakes or cannot be wrong, but at least it should set the tone and call upon our respect for our fellow-members of his church. Christians can cause provocation by foolish behaviour and harm their family by unwise actions, but it is equally undesirable for the body to react with fear and anxiety.
THE APOSTLE John says, ‘There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The man who fears is not made perfect in love’ (1 John 4:18).
Having met the leaders of the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church during a recent visit there last February, It is our firm conviction that they are good and decent people in the Lord, who are not trying to promote their own ministries or take away the glory of the Lord.
They may in some ways be a little naive and overly enthusiastic, falling to separate flesh from spirit, but to consider them in any degree agents of the enemy would be a serious mistake and a grave injustice.
When new things are happening in the church it is not only our choice but our clear duty and responsibility to test them in the light of scripture. if we do not do that, then we are being disobedient to the Word of God. it is easy for those who come under testing to accuse the ‘testers’ of being critical and proud, but that is a wrong judgment, and such accusations must be rejected.
ANYONE WHO introduces new aspects of ministry and claims them to be the work of the Spirit must welcome testing and, if they are from God, will have nothing to fear. Should they not be from God, he should be grateful for being helped out of his error. It is an awesome thing to claim something as coming from the Lord, because whoever does so could be guilty of presumption.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Paul says, ‘Test everything. Hold on to the good.’ That is a clear indication that we almost always must expect a mixture of things, something good from the Lord, and something bad from man or from the enemy.
Our impression of the ‘Toronto Blessing’ is exactly that: something in it is from the Lord, but there is also quite a bit that appears to be of the flesh, and we have almost no doubt that part of it is faked by man’s fantasies or by the devil’s deceptive power.
We returned from Toronto having on the one hand heard some genuine and good testimonies of personal renewal but on the other seen some faking of spiritual experience in an attempt to put on a show. We also saw manifestations that were clearly demonic rather than the work of God’s Spirit.
We were encouraged to hold fast to that which was good, and we found that some people who were dry and frustrated in their hearts seemed to have found a new release through the Toronto experience. They appeared to have come out of it with renewed joy and boldness. it seemed as though emotional releases were triggered. Even so, it is probably too soon to judge whether these changes in people will be lasting. The growth of fruit is a long-term process. We should not, of course, hinder anyone who is seeking more of God or be like Esau, who angered God by despising his blessing. Nor should we react negatively to changes in our meeting structures which will give people new opportunities to receive from the Holy Spirit.
The ‘Toronto Blessing’ is, in our opinion, a very personal matter. it is a matter of personal renewal. There does not seem to be any significant corporate experience connected to it, such as seen in Acts 4:23-31, where the entire church lifted its voice to God in intercessory prayer. Being a personal experience means that it must be handled along New Testament lines, as should other outbursts or manifestations such as speaking in tongues. Consequently, the strictures of 1 Corinthians 14 must be applied.
Here, Paul states that it is desirable that all speak In tongues, but when we are in the church assembly five words with the understanding is more important than ten thousand in tongues (18,19). He also says that those who speak in tongues edify themselves, but those who prophesy edify the church. The one who prophesies is therefore greater than the one who speaks in tongues (4,5).
PERSONAL RENEWAL for the purpose of edification is wonderful, but it is on a very basic level in the Christian experience and should not be blown out of proportion. Why is so much fuss being made out of personal renewal to the extent that it causes world attention? it is a most normal thing. We are exhorted to let ourselves be filled continually with the Spirit. That should not be a sensation that goes around the world.
In our estimation, the Toronto experience is being over-emphasised and sensationalised far beyond its real significance and could thus be exploited by the enemy and turned into a major deception for the purpose of distracting us from the prophetic priorities God has for his people in these last days.
Also, such personal experiences tend to lead to self-centredness and self-fulfilment — a vicious circle that seems to have no end. Jesus never taught his disciples to seek self-fulfilment. He taught them to deny themselves and follow him. Self-denial, not self-fulfilment, is the way of the Lord. We are called to seek first his righteousness and his kingdom, and only then will all our own desires and needs be taken care of.
The pastor of the Toronto Vineyard himself compared the experience to ‘children coming to the Father to play.’ We therefore know what level of instruction we are dealing with, and it is the children’s level. Wherever we find people running after blessings and personal spiritual experiences we know we are dealing with spiritual children. Paul encountered this at the church in Corinth. He said he could not give them solid food but was obliged instead to provide them with milk. They were still babes in Christ.
THE WRITER to the Hebrews expresses God’s heart-cry, ‘Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil’ (Hebrews 5:12-14).
The greatest concern I have regarding the ‘Toronto Blessing’ is the weakness of biblical confirmation for the experience. I also think that the Vineyard pastors are taking this vital issue too superficially. The Word of God should always be the final authority. Spiritual experiences can never be placed on the same level as scripture, neither can scripture be used to justify experiences which have no relation to the original meaning of the text.
The pastor in the Toronto church underlined the importance of being like little children according to Matthew 18:2-5, but forgot to emphasise that this scripture deals with the attitude at conversion, and that while child-likeness is one thing, childishness is quite another. Paul says that we should no longer be infants tossed to and fro by the winds of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14), and notes in 1 Corinthians 13:11 that, ‘When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.’ He also adds in 1 Corinthians 14:20, that we should ‘in regard to evil be infants, but in [our] thinking be adults.’
TO MAKE A VIRTUE out of being naive and shutting off our minds and spiritual senses to what is going on around us is not only against God’s Word, but is very dangerous. It opens up our personalities to the deceptive powers of the enemy.
Although 1 Corinthians 14:32 emphasises that, ‘The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets,’ there is an attempt to justify manifestations which are uncontrollable (and therefore unscriptural) by misusing scriptures such as those relating to Saul being knocked down on the way to Damascus or Zechariah being made dumb to indicate that God can do what he likes with born-again believers who have his Spirit! Yet neither example is remotely applicable.
Divisions caused by the Toronto phenomenon have even been excused as being ‘God-willed’ divisions, this despite Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that all believers might be one!
I also believe that the dangers of deception have been handled carelessly by the Vineyard pastors. A repeated phrase we heard was, ‘Are we having more faith in the devil to deceive than in God to bless?’
This is an unbalanced and presumptuous simplification of a vital truth. When Jesus, the Head of the church, spoke about the last days in Matthew 24, the major part of his speech was given over to warning us against the deceptive power of Satan. Has Jesus then also less faith in his Father to bless his children than in the devil to deceive them? It does not make sense.
Deception is not a matter of trusting in God’s ability to bless, versus the devil’s ability to deceive. it is a matter of knowing the human heart and being aware that it cannot be trusted (Jeremiah 17:9).
The Word of God also warns that one of the features of the ‘last days’ will be deception. We should therefore be on our guard, and not be surprised when we come across it. 2 Timothy 4:3,4 states, ‘For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine… They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.’ Such scriptures are surely appropriate for today.
THE LEADERS of the 'Toronto Blessing’ emphasise that the manifestations are less important than what is happening In the hearts of those present, but it is the manifestations that bring outsiders to the meetings.
If members were not falling on the floor or articulating unusual sounds, visitors would not flock to see them. That is why consideration of the manifestations is important, especially if they are wrong.
When Jesus did wondrous things, such as providing food for thousands simply through the means of a few loaves and fishes, large crowds took to following him, but when he began to speak to them about discipleship, hardship and self-denial, most people left him. True followers of the Lord are those who remain behind when the signs are no longer there.
In Toronto we observed people falling to the ground, but that is nothing new in the charismatic renewal. Back in the 1970s and 1980s such things happened again and again. What is probably new are some of the outbursts, but — again — in the early days of the Pentecostal revival there were also fairly dramatic outbursts of sounds and laughter.
We observed that while some people seemed to have a kind of physical experience of great peace and joy, others appeared dominated by demonic manifestations. We also noted that there were those who were simply putting on a show and trying to fake a spiritual experience. We cannot say that anything got out of hand, but neither can we say that we were impressed by what we saw.
One explanation of the manifestations given was that it was a kind of failing in love with the Lord afresh. It was mentioned several times that, if we really loved him, we should show our emotions of love to the Lord.
Marriage was used as an illustration, with the point being made that married people are supposed to show their love for one another by bodily expression, eg by kissing and embracing. This may be true to a degree, but it is also true that married couples do not express their physical affections to one another in front of several hundred people, but in private.
In the same way, our intimate relationship with the Lord is not for exhibition but for our personal prayer fellowship with him. (The difference between Paul’s relationship with the Lord in private and in public can be seen in 2 Corinthians 5:13). Also, we should not think that loving the Lord has that much to do with physical experiences.
Love in the New Testament is expressed in obedience to his word and his commandments (2 John 6), and in the laying down of our lives (1 John 3:16). We are not saying that there is no place for joy and excitement in our relationship with the Lord, but that physical expression is the least important part. To follow the Master and to do his will on a daily basis is the only true biblical way of showing the world that we love the Lord. Anything less, borders on superficial experientiality.
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