Does the Atonement of Christ Allow Us to Claim Physical Healing?

Almost all the "faith" teachers and "faith" healers claim the Scriptures prove that the atonement of Christ guarantees our physical healing.  They teach that all we need to do is "claim" our healing by "faith."  But we disagree.  The Bible does not teach that Jesus died so that all may "claim" divine healing now.

Let us examine the Scriptures to see if they are properly applied by the faith teachers.  In Isaiah 53:4, 5 it states, "Surely our griefs [the Hebrew word implies both physical sickness and the emotional and physical consequence of sinful behaviour; Ecclesiastes 6:2] He Himself bore, and our sorrows [or pains] He carried . . . .  He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities [sins] . . . .  By his scourging we are healed."  In response to this verse, we may state the following:

In English or Hebrew the word "heal" may refer to either physical or spiritual healing.  The context must determine if one or both meanings are meant.  For example, in 1 Peter 2:24, Peter refers to spiritual healing, and in Matthew 8:17, Matthew refers to physical healing.

Peter says of our spiritual healing, "He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by His wounds you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24).  Peter stresses the spiritual aspect of the atonement of Christ.  Nothing is said here about a believer's physical healing.  On the other hand, Matthew does refer to physical healing.  He says that Jesus physically healed those who were brought to Him "In order that what was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 'He himself took our infirmities, and carried away our diseases'" (Matthew 8:17).

The question is, Do these verses teach that perfect physical healing is available to every believer if, by faith, he simply "claims" it?  Since it is beyond doubt that Peter stresses the spiritual healing of the atonement, we only need concern ourselves with Isaiah and Matthew.  We accept that Matthew applied Isaiah 53 to Christ's earthly ministry of healing.  But we cannot accept that this example of Christ's ministry gives anyone permission to teach that all Christians should therefore claim their healing immediately.  Why?  Because in our Scriptural accounts Jesus and the apostles did not teach this (Matthew 25:37-40; 1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Timothy 4:20).  We do not believe that the apostle Matthew contradicted Jesus or the other apostles in this matter of the application of Jesus' healing ministry.

Also, Matthew is only pointing out that when Jesus was healing this was another sign of fulfilled Messianic prophesy.  In healing many people physically, Matthew realized Jesus fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy, thereby proving His rightful claim to be the Jewish Messiah (see Luke 7:19-23).

It's possible that Matthew's words could lead one to speculate that Jesus now provided healing for everyone, but such speculation can be seen to be false because Matthew himself specifically quotes Jesus against such a view.

In Matthew 25:37-40 Jesus Himself states He personally "expected" sickness and difficulty among believers ("[those] brothers of Mine" v. 40).  Also the writings of the apostle Paul reject such speculation as can be seen in 1 Timothy 5:23 and 2 Timothy 4:20.  For those who are following faith teachers and still not convinced, we submit the following evidence from Scripture proving this view is wrong.  Many biblical persons who had great faith were sick and in spite of their great faith not healed, such as Elisha, Daniel, Lazarus, Dorcas, Paul, Timothy, Epaphroditus and Trophimus (2 Kings 13:14; Daniel 8:27; John 11:2; Acts 9:36,37; Galatians 4:13-15; Philippians 2:25-30; 1 Timothy 5:23; 2 Timothy 4:20).

When we read the scriptural letters of the apostle Paul, we find that physical pain and sickness were indications of God's gracious work in his life (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).  Paul also boasted in his physical weakness not in his power (2 Corinthians 11:24-30).

Our Lord Jesus Himself said that even physical blindness and death could be to God's glory (John 9:1-3; 11:4).

Job said, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?"  (Job 2:10).  These verses and many others indicate that God does not expect  every Christian to be healed simply because they "claim" it.

Faith teachers are wrong on another point.  They emphasize healing results are based on the amount of faith a person possesses.  They claim everyone who exercises enough faith will be healed.  They teach doubt always blocks God's divine power from healing.  But Mark 9:24 proves their teaching is wrong.  We know that Jesus mercifully healed even the son of a man who admitted to unbelief.  In addition, the faith teachers claim that even negative thinking will block God's power but this is also wrong since the Bible tells us David prayed in a state of acute depression, and yet his prayer was answered (2 Samuel 15:30-32; 17:1-23).

There is another reason why the "faith" teachers are wrong about a Christian "claiming" his healing.  There is not one Scripture verse that teaches us to "claim our healing."  No Scripture anywhere tells us that Christ's death provides physical healing now merely on the basis of our claiming it.

For example, concerning salvation, the Bible repeatedly promises "whosoever will may come."  But concerning claiming one's healing, there is not a single "whosoever will claim" promise in all of Scripture.

If we listen closely to the apostle James, we find he stresses the calling of elders and their "prayer of faith" for healing.  He does not mention an individual "claiming" his healing (James 5:1-5).

Those who say we must "claim our healing" should also examine the biblical use of the word "claim."  In the New International Version, there are about 45 uses of the word "claim" again, not one of them refers to healing.  But many times the word is used in a negative sense where men claim things that are false, things that they have no right to claim.  (1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:6; Titus 1:16; Revelation 2:2; Job 41:11).

Contrary to the teaching of the faith healers, the Bible states:

1.  If a person is sick, he can call for the elders of the church to come and pray for his recovery (James 5:14, 15).
James says two things.  First, you should call the church elders for your sickness.  Second, you do not claim healing by yourself.

2.  According to James, if a sick person is not healed, it would seem to be due to the lack of faith on the part of those who prayed for him, not the lack of faith of the sick person.

3.  There can be no doubt that God asks his people to individually bring their needs and requests to Him (Philippians 4:6).

4.  Even though we are encouraged to make our requests to God, He does not guarantee to fulfill our requests; He may still decline them.  In such cases God says that His grace is sufficient and that even in our weakness God's power can be made manifest.  Paul states:  "three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it [a thorn in his flesh] away from me.  But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.'  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me.  That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:8-10).

Peter said "let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right" (1 Peter 4:19).  Christ's death will one day perfectly heal every believer, both spiritually and physically (Romans 8:30).  Until that day, we must accept that each of us will, in some way, suffer from the natural consequences of living in a fallen and imperfect, sin-cursed world.

However, this does not imply passivity or resignation.  David prayed fervently for God to spare his son for he said, "Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live" (2 Samuel 12:22).

All of these verses should be included in our thinking concerning healing.

For more information on Victory Churches and the Faith Movement, go to the Reference Library.  Click on any book title to get a brief overview of the book.  All books on the list are available through www.amazon.com. 

Errors of Positive Confession and Consequences

Consider the following illustrations of Positive Confession Belief and ask yourself the following questions.

1. Would God reveal such teachings to His people for their welfare?
2. Are these formulas or words found in the Bible?
3. Are they based on trusting God or upon a presumption?
4. Are they reflecting the life and teachings of Jesus?
5. Do they make sense, or are they irrational?
6. Are they wise or foolish -- or could they be dangerous?

E. W. Kenyon

". . . When God imparts to us His nature, there comes with it all the attributes of God Himself.  They are undeveloped but they are there lying latent in our human spirits."

Kenneth Hagin 

"Give what you can't afford."
"God wants His children to . . . wear the best clothing.  He wants them to drive the best cars, and He wants them to have the best of everything . . . just claim what you need."
"Too few people today know that they can write their own ticket with God."

Kenneth Copeland

"As a born again believer, you have the same spiritual capacity Jesus has."
"Believers are not to be led by logic.  We are not even to be led by good sense . . . .  The ministry of Jesus was never governed by logic or reason."

Charles Capps

"He [God] said, [to Capps] . . . I am not the one causing your problems.  You are under an attack of the evil one and I can't do anything about it.  You have bound me by the negative words of your mouth."
"We have said, 'Oh, it looks like the wicked prosper.'  Well, we said they were, that is one reason they are prospering."
"In fact, I am convinced the only thing you can't have here on earth is the glorified body.  You can have the kingdom [of heaven] and the benefits of it right here on earth."

Robert Tilton

"[re: John 15:7] Jesus didn't put any limits on this . . . .  You are wall-to-wall Jesus . . . the miraculous should be commonplace in every church . . . He [Jesus] was talking about demanding your rights and having restored back to you what the devil stole from man in the fall!"

Paul Yonggi Cho

Dr. Cho is one of the less extreme Positive Confession teachers.  He claims God spoke to him and revealed His teachings about the "law" of faith involving "incubating our subconscious through visions, visualization (mental imaging directed toward a specific goal), and dreams. . . .  Physical reality may be altered in accordance with the visualized desires.  By picturing what we desire inwardly in our subconscious mind, we somehow enter an/or manipulate "the fourth dimension" in order to actually permit God to produce miracles for us in the physical realm. . . .  Your word actually goes out and creates [reality].  Cho believes that genuine pagan miracles are part of the potential of the human spirit . . . .  Visualization is held to be the secret of victorious praying.  It is our mental power to alter the fourth dimension which produces effective ministry here on the earth.

But did God ever teach these things in the Bible?  Does God require of us a certain state of consciousness -- or simple trust in Him?  Do we have power over creation or does God?  Is visualization really the "deeper language" of the Holy Spirit?

Cho has recently and correctly rebuked the American Faith teachers for excesses and imbalance.  But in his book Salvation, Health and Prosperity he teaches that apart from knowing the truths of the threefold blessings of salvation, of health, and of prosperity, we cannot properly understand the Bible . . . .  He also teaches, "if Jesus is with us now, the same things which He did 2000 years ago should appear daily in our lives.  By this we can judge whether Jesus' sayings are true or not:  if these things are not happening among us, the promises of Jesus have become empty words to us."

Logical Consequences May Follow this Belief System

Without the slightest hesitation we may say the health and wealth gospel of Positive Confession is a blight upon the church.  It is a perverted gospel of cheap grace which reverses biblical values, produces fear and spiritual bondage or intimidation, holds out false promises, leads to false guilt and despair,  in some people, produces apostasy and in others results in personal tragedy.

For example, like Christian Scientists and Jehovah Witnesses, some Christian parents accepting the faith teachings have let their own children die by withholding from them life-saving medication.  They have done this under the mistaken assumption that, in spite of evidence to the contrary, their child was divinely healed.  Thus, to continue to give them medication would supposedly be a "lack of faith" in their divine healing.  Does anyone need to be told that teachings that cause the deaths of others are not godly, no matter how godly they sound?

The problems and destruction already wrought by these teachings is considerable, yet thousands of churches and millions of Christians continue to support these "ministries," while godly ministries suffer for lack of support.  Why would some Christians continue to supply the very funds without which these ministries could not exist?  Put simply, because they are promised what they want to believe.  "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths" (2 Timothy 4:3,4).

Are You Attending "The Church of the Itching Ear"?

If you attend "The Church of the Itching Ear", with all of its false teachings, are you going to heaven?

What is the "Health & Wealth" Gospel?

The "health and wealth" gospel teaches that the human mind and tongue contain a "power."  When a person speaks expressing his faith in supposedly divine laws, his positive thoughts and his positive verbal expression (such as, "I am healed of my heart attack") are supposed to produce "divine force" that will health, produce wealth, and influence the environment.  According to the "health and wealth" teachers, God automatically responds and accomplishes what we command when we positively confess our needs and desires.  The non-biblical part of this teaching is that God is obligated to do what we decide.  We are in charge, not God.  Charles Capps and other "faith" teacher clearly state "Words are the most powerful things in the universe."

The teachings and emphases in this movement vary but in general there are at least five major tenets of the "health and wealth" or "faith" gospel.

1.  Perfect divine healing was made available to all believers through the death of Christ.  A person's healing is limited only because of his insufficient faith to receive it.

2.  It is God's desire that all believers prosper -- financially, physically, and spiritually.

3.  A person must "claim" his health and wealth.  He can do this immediately by believing he already has it and by positively confessing these conditions, even though all outward appearances seem to be different.  When sense perceptions do seem to contradict health and wealth beliefs (such as when a person is not healed of his heart attack), our senses must be rejected and a person must live by "faith."  The reason given is as follows:  The mind is so powerful that "negative confession" is just as potent a force as positive confession and therefore can become a destructive force.

4. "Health and wealth" teachers often insist one must experience the "baptism in the Holy Spirit" which is usually evidenced by speaking in tongues.

5.  Many "health and wealth" teachers rely on "angelic" contact.  They receive guidance and in turn, command angels to do their will!  "Angels" appear to be responsible for directing the ministries of several of the leading "health and wealth" teachers.

"Health and wealth" or "faith" teachers often claim divine visions, divine inspiration, or divine interpretations of Scripture passages which give their teachings absolute authority.  This is an especially serious claim and Christians need to examine it carefully.

Feeling

There is often much enthusiasm surrounding a T.V. ministry.  Some of the T.V. ministries make great appeals to the emotions and stir up rousing sentiments but deny the importance of the mind.  Now feelings are not wrong.  Feelings of love, joy, peace, and many other responses are all gifts from God.  He created our capacity to feel, and above all He created us with a capacity to enjoy Him.  One important Christian catechism asks, "What is man's chief end?"  and answers "To glorify God and enjoy Him forever."  So we see that enjoyment of God is one of the central purposes of our creation.  God also created us to enjoy relationships with other creatures and to enjoy the natural world.  The problem with the message of many televangelists is not their appeal to desires or feelings; the problem is that they settle for "mud pies in the slum" rather than "a holiday at the sea."  They, along with their followers, are far too easily pleased.

Even if we do gain perfect health and perfect wealth and achieve the power to accomplish many miracles, we can still lack the key to ultimate satisfaction:  knowing God.  Augustine once said, "Our hearts are restless until we find our rest in Thee," not, "until we find our rest in miracles," or, "in prosperity," or "in great feelings," but in God Himself.  All humans have a spiritual hunger that only God Himself can satisfy.

Even an atheist, Franz Kafka, recognized the importance of satisfying his own spiritual hunger.  In one short story, The Hunger Artist, he summed up his thoughts.  He wanted his other works burned but insisted that this one story be saved.

Please read the following more than once.

In a typically bizarre fashion, Kafka has the hunger artist making his living by professional fasting.  He is the practitioner of a once venerated profession.  Seated on straw in his small barred cage, he is marveled at by throngs of people.  After forty days, his fasts were terminated in triumph.  His manager would make a speech, the band would play, and one of the ladies would lead him staggering in his weakened state out of the cage.  

However, the day arrived when fasting was no longer understood or appreciated by the people.  He lost his manager and had to join a circus.  His cage was placed next to the animals.  He became depressed by the smell, the restlessness of the animals at night, the raw flesh carried past him and the roaring at feeding time.  The people barely glanced at him in their hurry to see the animals.  Even the circus attendants failed to limit his fast by counting the days.  Finally, he was discovered lying in the straw, and in his dying breaths he told his secret:  "I have to fast," he whispered.  "I can't help it.  I couldn't find the food I liked.  If I had found it, believe me, I should have made no fuss and stuffed myself like you or anyone else."  

Kafka was a writer of parables.  The parable of the hunger artist is not about physical hunger but about spiritual hunger.  Kafka was the hunger artist, and he realized he was starving to death spiritually, but he couldn't find any food he liked.  

There is a hunger within us all that only God can satisfy.  That's what C.S. Lewis meant when he said, "We are halfhearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us."  The meeting of those material desires is not wrong in its proper context.  Yet we can be far too easily pleased.  The followers of these preachers are gorging themselves on junk food.  It is attractive.  It is sweet.  It tastes good.  But it does not satisfy, and it ends up destroying its host.  Many preachers today appeal to our desires for well-being but fail to emphasis (or perhaps fail even to see) the real need.  Christians need the knowledge of a just, holy and merciful God.  We need to know God's character and His attributes.  It is not that we desire too much.  We are not asking for too much when we demand health, wealth, and happiness, but too little!  Some preachers are passionate about things that can only bring partial satisfaction.  They appeal to halfheartedness when infinite joy is offered.  They call us to settle for "mud pies in a slum" because they cannot imagine what is meant by "a holiday at the sea."


For more information on Victory Churches and the Faith Movement, go to the Reference Library.  Click on any book title to get a brief overview of the book.  All books on the list are available through www.amazon.com. 

Settling for Mud Pies

What's Missing?

Many of today's preachers make appeals that focus on fulfilling human desires -- especially health, wealth, and happiness.  But other things, too, like peace of mind, joy, satisfaction, self-esteem, power, and victory.  It's not that these things are always wrong in themselves.  Indeed, they are often gifts of God.  However, it is difficult to resist the impression that there are preachers who have set their sights too low.

C.S. Lewis gave us the following insight:

Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased.

Many preachers, reflecting a common emphasis in modern evangelicalism generally, are settling for "mud pies" because they "cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday by the sea."  These preachers appeal to our selfish instincts, which may be momentarily satisfied by promises of success, unfailing happiness, and good times, when all the while our deepest needs, our truest needs -- for eternal love and acceptance in a world where performance is usually a prerequisite for acceptance, for certainty in the midst of doubt, and for purpose in a period of despair -- go untouched.

Our desires are too weak if we are simply making our own comfort and success our focus, while ignoring the larger issues.  Our desires should be broader, transcending our self-centredness.  We are far too easily pleased!  

Something is missing.  Let's discover the identity of that missing element.  The particular type of message many media preachers communicate has come to be known as the "Health and Wealth Gospel."  Prosperity teaching abounds on their television programs as well as in their written material.  One statement summarizes the technique used:  "God's got it, I can have it, and by faith I'm going to get it."  

We see additional examples in titles such as Kenneth E. Hagin's pamphlet, "How to Write Your Own Ticket with God" and Robert Tilton's magazine, Signs, Wonders, and Miracles of Faith, in which testimonials of financial and physical success abound.  Or in Kenneth Copeland's brochures "God's Will is Health" and "God's Will is Prosperity"  Oral Roberts promises people on his mailing list "Prosperity Miracles That Are Within Fingertip Reach of Your Faith," and his most recent book to date is titled How I Learned Jesus Was Not Poor.  Peter Popoff invites his followers to wash with an "anointed" sponge and then to send a monetary gift to his ministry.  This "will unlock heaven's storehouse of blessings for you."

We have seen responses to such teachings in Bruce Barron's The Health and Wealth Gospel and Gordon Fee's The Disease of the Health and Wealth Gospel   Yet whether or not the Health and Wealth teachings are true, they do reduce life to a tragically narrow and trivial focus, meeting only surface needs.  They ignore a larger vision of reality.  Christians must know truth about all areas of life and must develop a character that is able to make commitments to people, the community, and the nation outside themselves.  These teachings promise a satisfaction of our desires.  But we need to ask, "Are these desires too weak?  Are they too trivial? Are we far too easily pleased?"

-- Art Lindsley


For more information on Victory Churches and the Faith Movement, go to the Reference Library.  Click on any book title to get a brief overview of the book.  All books on the list are available through www.amazon.com. 

Is The Gift of Tongues For Today?

Someone sent me a sample of some charismatic Sunday school literature designed to teach kindergarten children to speak in tongues. It is titled "I've Been Filled with the Holy Spirit!!!" and is an eight-page colouring book. One page has a caricature of a smiling weight-lifter with a T-shirt that says "Spirit-Man." Under him is printed 1 Corinthians 14:4: "He that speaks in an unknown tongue builds himself up."

Another page features a boy who looks like Howdy-Doody [a clown] with his hands lifted up. A dotted outline pictures where his lungs would be. (This evidently represents his spirit.) Inside the lung-shaped diagram is printed "BAH-LE ODOMA TA LAH-SE TA NO-MO." A cartoon-style balloon coming from his mouth repeats the words, "BAH-LE ODOMA TA LAH-SE TA NO-MO." A brain-shaped cloud is drawn in his head, with a large question mark in the cloud? Also inside the cloud is printed, "MY MIND DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SAYING." Under the boy 1 Corinthians 14:14 is printed: "For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful."

That expresses the typical charismatic perspective. The gift of tongues is viewed as a wholly mystical ability that somehow operates in a person's spirit but utterly bypasses the mind. Many charismatics are even told that they must purposefully switch off their minds to enable the gift to function. Charles and Frances Hunter, for example, hold "Healing Explosion" meetings, attended by as many as fifty thousand people at a time. At those seminars the Hunters "teach" people how to receive the gift of tongues. Charles Hunter tells people,

When you pray with your spirit, you do not think of the sounds of the language. Just trust God, but make the sounds when I tell you to. In just a moment when I tell you to, begin loving and praising God by speaking forth a lot of different syllable sounds. At first make the sounds rapidly so you won't try to think as you do in speaking your natural language...Make the sounds loudly at first so you can easily hear what you are saying.

Hunter does not explain what point there is in hearing what one is saying, since the mind is supposed to be disengaged anyway. He continually reminds his audience that they are not supposed to be thinking: "The reason that some of you don't speak fluently is that you tried to think of the sounds. So when we pray this prayer and you start speaking in your heavenly language, don't try to think." Later, he adds, "[You] don't even have to think to pray in the Spirit."

[The Grand Poo-Bah says: "The words 'heavenly language' appear nowhere in Scripture and cannot be found anywhere in a Bible concordance. How can that be explained? My guess is the Pentecostal church made it up to serve their purposes. There is no such thing as a heavenly language -- it does not exist except in the minds of Pentecostals."]

Arthur L. Johnson, in his excellent expose of mysticism calls the charismatic movement "the zenith of mysticism" and with good reason. This desire to switch off the mind and disconnect from all that is rational was one of the primary characteristics of the pagan mystery religions. Nearly all the teachings distinctive to the charismatic movement are unadulterated mysticism and nothing illustrates that more perfectly than the way charismatics themselves depict the gift of tongues.

Charismatics [and that includes Victory Churches International] typically describe tongues as an ecstatic experience without parallel that arouses the spirit in a way that must be experienced to be appreciated. One author quotes Robert V. Morris:

For me...the gift of tongues turned out to be the gift of praise. As I used the unknown language which God had given me I felt rising in me the love, the awe, the adoration, pure and uncontingent, that I had not been able to achieve in thought-out prayer.

A newspaper article on tongues quoted the Reverend Bill L. Williams, of San Jose: "It involves you with someone you're deeply in love with and devoted to...We don't understand the verbiage but we know we're in communication." That awareness is "beyond emotion, beyond intellect," he said. "It transcends human understanding. It is the heart of man speaking to the heart of God. It is deep, inner heart understanding." "It comes as supernatural utterances, bringing intimacy with God."

The article also quoted the Reverend Billy Martin, of Farmington, New Mexico: "It's a joyous, glorious, wonderful experience." And the Reverend Darlene Miller, of Knoxville, Tennessee: "It's like the sweetness of peaches that you can't know until you taste it yourself. There's nothing ever to compare with that taste." Other tongues-speakers would echo sentiments similar to those.

And what could possibly be wrong with such an experience? If it makes a person feel good, closer to God, spiritually stronger, or even delirious with joy, can it in any way be dangerous or deceptive?

It can, and it is. The late George Gardiner, a pastor and former tongues-speaker, who left the Pentecostal movement, poignantly described the danger of surrendering one's mind and abandoning control of oneself for the euphoria of a tongues experience:

The enemy of the soul is ever-ready to take advantage of an "out of control" situation and thousands of Christians can testify with regret to the end results. Such experiences not only give Satan an opening he is quick to exploit, they can be psychologically damaging to the individual. Charismatic writers are constantly warning tongues-speakers that they will suffer a letdown. This is ascribed to the devil and the reader is urged to get refilled as soon as possible...

So the seeker for experience goes back through the ritual again and again, but begins to discover something; ecstatic experience, like drug-addiction, requires larger and larger doses to satisfy. Sometimes the bizarre is introduced. I have seen people run around a room until they were exhausted, climb tent poles, laugh hysterically, go into trances for days, and do other weird things as the "high" sought became more illusive. Eventually there is a crisis and a decision is made; he will sit on the back seats and be a spectator and "fake it" or go on in the hope that everything will eventually be as it was. The most tragic decision is to quit and in the quitting, abandon all things spiritual as fraudulent. The spectators are frustrated, the fakers suffer guilt, the hoping are pitiable, and the quitters are a tragedy. No, such movements are not harmless!

Many who speak in tongues will understand the tensions Gardiner has described. He is not the only tongues-speaker to turn against the practice and expose its dangers. Wayne Robinson, who served as editor-in-chief of publications in the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, was an enthusiastic tongues-speaker. In the preface of his book I Once Spoke In Tongues, he wrote:

In the past few years, I have become more and more convinced that the test, not only of tongues but of any religious experience, cannot be limited to the logic and truthfulness supporting it. There is also the essential question, "what does it do in one's life?" More specifically, does it turn a person inward to self-concern and selfish interests, or does it open him up to others and to their needs?

I know people who testify that speaking in tongues has been the great liberating experience of their lives. But juxtaposed with them are a great many others for whom speaking in tongues has been an excuse to withdraw from confronting the realities of a suffering and divided world. For some, tongues has been the greatest thing ever to happen; others have seen it disrupt churches, destroy careers, and rupture personal relationships. [The Grand Poo-Bah has personally experienced the latter.]

Ben Byrd, another former charismatic, writes,
To say that speaking in tongues is a harmless practice and is all right for those who want to IS AN UNWISE position when information to the contrary is evident...Speaking in tongues is addictive. The misunderstanding of the issue of tongues and the habit plus the psychic high it brings plus the stimulation of the flesh equals a practice hard to let go of...But to equate much speaking in tongues with advanced spirituality is to reveal one's misunderstanding of Bible Truth and to reveal one's willingness to be satisfied with a deceptive and dangerous counterfeit.

Others who practice tongues can turn the phenomenon on and off mechanically, without feeling anything emotional, having learned the familiar sounds to repeat, they have honed the ability and can speak fluently and effortlessly -- yet dispassionately.

(from "Charismatic Chaos by John F. MacArthur, Jr.)

[The Grand Poo-Bah says: "To sum it up in a nutshell, speaking in tongues is learned behaviour; it is addictive, very dangerous and serves the purposes of Satan. Just so you know, the Grand Poo-Bah has not experienced speaking in tongues because he seems to know through discernment that it's dangerous and gives the devil an opportunity and I choose not to give the devil an open door. It has been my experience in over sixty years that you don't have to go to the sun to know it's hot."]

Doctrinal Ambiguity (Mark #5)

If the trumpet give an uncertain sound,
who shall prepare himself for the battle?

The answer to this biblical question is that many strange people will. Response may well come from multitudes of individuals as they move out from the dark haunts of personal failure and confusion. There are increasing multitudes of people living in our generation to whom uncertain sounds seem to be beautiful music. To them uncertainty is a form of certainty and ambiguity satisfies the mind more than anything specific.

It is no wonder then that these types are attracted to the ambiguous doctrines of cult religions. Doctrinal ambiguity is a mark of a cult. One of the very fascinating characteristics of the cults is the interesting and sometimes hilarious changes of doctrine through which they pass. Their doctrines are being continually altered in order to adapt themselves to new situations, arguments, or the whims of their leaders. They know nothing of the command of Scripture, "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive" (Ephesians 4:14). Scripture is clear that craftily changing doctrine is a cunning device used by those who prey upon the unwary.

The illustrations are many. During and after the days of Mary Baker Eddy, the Christian Science cult republished her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures nearly every year. The annual update made it possible for the glaring contradictions and preposterous doctrines of the past to be adapted to the new demands of the present.

The word "doctrine" has no meaning in the fever swamps of the mind which are inhabited by the cults, for doctrine means a systematic presentation and understanding of truth. The idea of doctrine is therefore virtually unique to organized Christianity.

By contrast what passes for doctrine in the cult is really a sub-rational set of disconnected thoughts and practices that only serve to confuse the mind and the emotions as well. God gave us emotions so that they might be the source of flavour, happiness, joy at the understanding of truth and the fulfilment of duty. Emotions were never intended to be an end in themselves and are totally untrustworthy as the custodians of truth. Any religion, therefore, that deliberately bypasses rational doctrinal understanding and seeks to build upon the emotions will inevitably deceive rather than enlighten.

The use of chants, the raising of hands along with the clanging of cymbals, the sing-song repetition of simple musical structures, the repeated, staccato articulation of any word that is supposed to represent God, joy, or peace -- all of these practices are sub-rational. They are simply calculated to play on the limited strings of the emotional structure, creating what passes as a religious experience but is nothing more than a mindless emotional trauma. Christ declared that we are not heard because of our "much speaking." This is a suggestion that is regularly ignored by the cults, whose adherents are not really speaking to God anyhow.

The illustrations of doctrinal ambiguity from the old and the new cults are endless. Never in the history of the world have there been so many confused and contradictory religious propositions pressed upon people in the guise of truth. The mind reels in confusion at any attempt to understand with any logical comprehension the preaching and doctrinal system of modern-day cults.

This "mindlessness" of the cults is a most useful device. The cult promoters are not truly appealing to the mind but rather are attempting to set the mind aside and to appeal to a set of religious emotions. Devotees say to one another in effect, "Forget what he is saying, can't you feel the vibrations?" Surely we are in divine presence as the guru is speaking to us."

This "divine presence" is always justified by calling it higher knowledge, deeper truth, or the use of some other adjective that excuses it from being the real thing. Converts are not urged to understand; rather it is recommended that they feel. Terms like "self-realization," along with concepts like love, peace, and joy are the expressions in which they traffic. The words of the cults are the products of a corrupted language. The words themselves have no real meaning. They have become emotional triggers connoting to you whatever you want them to mean. The cult promoters have denied the doctrine of objective value as relates to the words they use.

By contrast, our Lord Jesus Christ was careful about the use of His words. The result is that those who heard went away saying that they had never heard anyone who spoke like this man spoke. Christ clearly warned us as to the utter importance of the proper use of words with real meaning, saying, "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" (Matthew 12:37).

The Word of God is therefore very careful to avoid ambiguity. The contrast between bewildering, ambiguous cult doctrines and true Christianity is a very marked one. Nothing is clearer than the call in Scripture to sound doctrine. In a thousand ways, the Scriptures of the New Testament commit themselves to a careful exposition of the truth of God.

Indeed, unlike the religions of the world, Christianity commits itself to careful details of all kinds. The Bible is filled with notations of cities, villages, rivers, dates, times, kings, and exact quotes of what many individuals have said. Like no book in all of the world, the Bible is a book of careful historic details.

In addition to this, important theological propositions in the Bible are stated in many ways so that there can be simply no question about the meaning. So clear and broad is the presentation of the facts of the Gospel that Paul was able to say to Timothy, "But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long suffering, charity, patience" (2 Timothy 3:10).

We see then that clarity of belief is one of the characteristics of true Christianity. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).

The Christian who studies the Word of God becomes spiritually mature, a defender of the faith, and able to even teach others. The clear doctrines of Holy Scriptures can be understood to the point of certainty by faithful people as they are transmitted from person to person, place to place, and age to age. Paul wrote, "The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2).

The Word of God clearly warns that "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth; and shall be turned into fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Fables, predicted in Scripture, are one of the marks of a cult. One can listen endlessly to cultic representatives on radio and television and never be sure what they are talking about. They pose questions that they do not answer. One of the most mentally frustrating experiences in life is to attempt to decide exactly what a religious promoter meant by what he said. The answer cannot be found even by reading hundreds of pages of his literature. Rather, the reader is lead into an even deeper labyrinth of confusion.

This is the way they plan it. They intend to confuse, not to clarify. Being confused themselves, they only are able to throw dust in the air so that it gets in the eyes of others. It is almost impossible to understand what a Jehovah's Witness believes about God, biblical inspiration, eternity, and many other subjects.

The tendency of the cults is to move away from the objective, categoric truth as taught in Scripture. They hide behind the trees in the endless forest of philosophic discussion. To them the process of discussion is itself the truth. Nothing can be resolved because all things are continually and everlastingly relative. These indeed are people who are "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of truth" (2 Timothy 3:7).

The message of the Gospel of Christ is continually presented in the Word of God as the profoundly beautiful and simple truth of the Christ who died and rose again in order that we by faith in Him might have everlasting life.

By contrast, the dark night of doctrinal obscurity has settled on many segments of the current religious establishment because of the obfuscations and contradictions of the confused representatives of religion. The individual who seeks after truth in our times does well to head the words of Christ, "If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth because there is no light in him" (John 11:9-10).

The great need in the religious establishment of our time is for the candid preaching of sound doctrine as against the tantalizing sentences of those who never do quite get to the point. Thank God for the faithful Christian expositors of the Scriptures in our time (may their tribe increase!) who can truthfully say, "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you but have shown you and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance towards God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:20-21).

Ambiguity is the devil's gospel, whereas clarity is divine.

(from Know the Marks of Cults, the Twelve Basic Errors of False Religion by Dave Bresse)

Redefining Christianity

Barrie Victory Centre has as its purpose and motto "Releasing the Restoring Fire of God". Where in Scripture does it say that this is the purpose of the church? In fact, where does it say that you are even supposed to be doing this at all. This church is attempting to redefine Christianity and in particular "the Gospel that was delivered to the Saints". "The Gospel" like the character of Christ is unchanging and steadfast, NEVER changing. "He is the same yesterday, today and forever" as is the Gospel. To add to it or take away from it in any way is blasphemy and punishable by death.

What would happen if Christ returned and found out what's going on at Barrie Victory Centre? Here's just a few things He would be appalled at:

Healing included in the Atonement - man-made theology. Kenneth Hagan renounced everything about the faith movement on his deathbed.

Speaking in Tongues - not for today

Modern Day Prophets - not for today

Divine Revelation is being used by the leadership as a substitution for a proper education at a respected Bible College. (Canada Christian College is not one of those)

Faith Healing - God heals but on His agenda and in His time and not everybody "with enough faith" gets healed.

Miracles - not for today

Positive Confession - A throwback to Catholicism and not found in Scripture. It does more harm than good.

Thou Shalt Not Read Any Books Other Than the Bible - The purpose behind this is to control the minds and thoughts of their followers, keep opposition and questionning minds silent.

The truth is that Christianity is very subtly being redefined right in front of their faces and it no longer looks like or resembles true Christianity but rather a VERY different gospel.

If you attend BVC, with the littany of errors being taught, you have to ask yourself, How Far Away From Truth Can You Go before you can no longer claim to be a Christian?