4. But Why Doesn't God Step In and . . .

. . . Chasten His Children To Woo Them Back To Obedience? (Hebrews 12)

The Holy Spirit and the Word of God continually call the believer to faithfulness and obedience (Phil. 2:12, 13).  Deception and impoverishment are the bitter fruits of turning away from the Word of God.  Sometimes God will allow His children to remain deceived as a chastisement until they turn again in submission to the Word of God.  Their salvation in Christ is secure through Christ's blood sacrifice.  They may serve the Lord faithfully in other areas and even be used successfully by God, but they will miss God's best blessings on earth and they will lose rewards in heaven. 

God will allow believers to choose whether to glorify Christ through submission and obeying Scripture or to rebel.  For dedicated servants of God who put aside the clear revelation of God and embrace new revelations in this life they will be deceived and impoverished, and in the next life they will suffer loss of rewards at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5-10).

Examples of charismatic deception are tongues, false healings, new revelations, words of knowledge spoken about other people, slaying in the "spirit", "Toronto" experience, etc. Consider briefly these two examples:

Slaying People in the Spirit is a Charismatic invention whereby hands are laid on a person's head and they lose consciousness, causing them to fall backwards onto the floor.  THIS IS NOT IN THE BIBLE, so forget it.  Laying hands on people is well known in the occult as a means of transferring demons.  It is more likely demonically influenced and all the more reason why we should avoid this movement.

Surrender of mind and emotions to group pressure.
On entering a Charismatic meeting, we meet many people dancing, throwing arms in the air, speaking in tongues [gibberish], on an emotional high and appearing very happy.  The average Christian realizes that he is not always like this nor is the church from which he has come (which is made to appear dead and lifeless in comparison).  He and his church are made to feel inferior and below what God expects.  He has always had thoughts that his Christian life hasn't always been as good as it ought to have been.  He immediately concludes that these people have a one-shot-sure-fire-answer to spirituality when they ask him if he has been baptised in the Holy Spirit or spoken in tongues [gobble-de-gook].  If he is not careful, he will assume that these people are right, without studying the Bible or without praying the issue through.  He may then agree to speak in tongues, which makes the Charismatics very happy.  He feels much love, acceptance and unity as a result, all because of an experience that he has had.  He then begins his Christian life by making his experience the authority on which he determines spiritual truth, and not the Bible.  He then defends his decision logically by saying what wonderful love and unity these people have and "power" (false albeit).  He asks, "how can they be wrong when they show such qualities?"