Why am I a
Baptecostal? Part II
Seek Transformation,
Not Manifestation!
The emphasize of Pentecostal and Charismatic churches have
usually been spiritual manifestations. They focus more on revival sessions.
Revival sessions aren’t bad itself but the motive makes it unusually bad.
Spiritual revival is needy but outcome is not sought. Peoples undergo through
unusual manifestations such as jerking, shivering, crying, falling and speaking
in ecstatic languages.[1] Not all have these
manifestations but those who have these manifestations, they focus only on
these.
I am not against these as I myself have gone through those,
which is unexplainable and could be merely our mental or psychological aspect
when divine empowerment meets our weakness.[2] Whatsoever be the case,
our focus must be transformation. Perhaps, Paul himself had undergone through
spiritual expressions and he knew they were not harmful. Meanwhile, he
constantly preached the genuine transformation and edification that we receive
in Christ by grace. He focused on Christian character i.e. Love, heading on
being in Christ’s image. This is why he said he wants everyone to have the gift
of Tongues, but more than that the gift of prophecy which indeed edifies the
whole church!
Unusual manifestations have been noticed throughout the
church history in revivals. Those were spiritual expressions when God’s spirit
was actively working in dormant states of believers. Obviously, not
manifestations, but the inner spiritual state led them to have feel of change
in their life. Later, after 1906 Cambrian explosion of Pentecostal movement,
the paradigm shift was imputed to Speaking in tongues. However, the movement
obviously caused a lot of chaos later despite its great contribution of
missionary works and church planting.[3]
The Charismatic expressions aren’t negative in themselves.
Holy Spirit is obviously gentle and he is indeed God, he is a person. Many
arguments hence come forth that jerking, falling, shouting, speaking ecstatic
gibberish aren’t His works because He is gentle spirit unlike demons. However,
humans are emotionally prone to manifesting certain outward expressions.
Perhaps, the powerful touch of Holy Spirit might lead some people to express
their broken heart resulting to shouting, jerking, speaking in ecstatic
languages and so on.[4]
Whatever the case be, we have almost no convincing reasons to explain these
expressions.[5]
God’s powerful entrance and expressions are obviously
evident in the Old Testament (E.g. Exodus 19:18). People fearing those
terrifying moments might help us to understand modern phenomena. Regarding the
speaking in tongues, this might be a kind of language of thanksgiving, prayer
or worshipping heart expressed to God.[6],[7] The gibberish nature
of this expression has been objected due to Acts 2 event. Such gibberish (it
means unintelligible) speaking are also found in pagan cultures akin to
healing, visions, prophecy and deliverance. This is because there is reality of
spiritual realm. Whatever be the reality of speaking in tongues, Paul ends his
letter instructing not to forbid it.
These manifestations are perhaps outcome of mixed result
from spiritual, physical, mental, emotional and psychological areas. Some
careful balanced Bible teachers such as Ps. Bhojraj Bhatt has to say “I think
this is a mix of psychological, physical and spiritual elements. But most of it
has to do with state of our psychological and emotional state. You see, this
phenomenon specially takes place in a cult. Now, what is a cult you may say. A
cult has an authority figure, a leader who is respected and accepted by the
followers. Whatever the cult leaders says is considered authoritative. Then, it has a culture such as songs, dances,
speeches, prayer, and so on. It also has a level of privacy in which people can
be free from fear and every other inhibition. And a few more things. Once you have all these elements in place and
people who have issues in their lives are there, you will most likely see such
phenomena taking place. It does take place in the church, it takes place in
yogas and even in some Shamanistic settings. Because we believe in the reality
of the spiritual world, when vulnerable people are opened up to such realities,
they can either be filled with the Holy Spirit or they can also be possessed or
overtaken by demonic spirits. Or at times, it could be simply their psychic
experience in which body reacts violently. So, yes, the Holy Spirit is
real. Yes, the demonic world is real. And,
yes, even purely on human level, man is capable of manifesting such psychic
activities.” (Source: facebook comment section on a post being shared of Dr.
Yogi Vikashanand performing similar actions where ladies were trembling,
jerking and falling on the floor)
Holy Spirit is not something an easy spirit. He is God. In
Triune God YHWH, all three persons are God sharing same nature and attributes.
He is the same God who empowered Jesus in his earthly life. He is the same God
whose entrance in the day of Pentecost was extremely powerful (Read Acts 2).
Perhaps, his presence, his touch, his interaction with vulnerable hearts lead
to such manifestations. Meanwhile, his work is solely of transforming our
hearts rather than performing circus at church.
The manifestations are not be sought and otherwise protested
but the outcome in life needs to be detected.[8] Once we fail to realize
this simple truth and just go on popularizing the manifestations and start
building doctrines on them, we are obviously running a circus show instead the
holy body of Christ!
To be continued…
(This article can be subjected to updates depending on
further evaluations of the topic)
Bibliography:
Crosswalk.com. “6 Things You May
Not Know about the Ark of the Covenant.” Accessed April 19, 2024.
https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/things-you-may-not-know-about-the-ark-of-the-covenant.html.
Kinnaman,
Gary D. AND SIGNS SHALL FOLLOW. Translated and published in Nepali
language by Good News publisher, 2017.
“The
Fire That Could Not Die : The Story of the Azusa Street Revival by Rick Joyner
- PDF Drive.” Accessed April 16, 2024. http://www.pdfdrive.com/the-fire-that-could-not-die-the-story-of-the-azusa-street-revival-e156698508.html.
“The
Shepherd’s Staff by Ralph Mahoney - PDF Drive.” Accessed April 19, 2024.
http://www.pdfdrive.com/the-shepherds-staff-e186497746.html.
Towns,
Elmer L., and Douglas Porter. The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever: From Pentecost
to the Present. Ann Arbor, Mich: Vine Books, 2000.
Z-Library
Project. “Speaking in Tongues: A Biblical Perspective | Z-Library.” Accessed
April 19, 2024. https://z-lib.io/book/13633193.
[1] Elmer
L. Towns and Douglas Porter, The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever: From Pentecost
to the Present (Ann Arbor, Mich: Vine Books, 2000), 11.
[2] Towns and Porter, 11.
[3] “The Fire
That Could Not Die : The Story of the Azusa Street Revival by Rick Joyner - PDF
Drive,” 5, accessed April 16, 2024,
http://www.pdfdrive.com/the-fire-that-could-not-die-the-story-of-the-azusa-street-revival-e156698508.html.
[4] “6
Things You May Not Know about the Ark of the Covenant,” Crosswalk.com, accessed
April 19, 2024,
https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/bible-study/things-you-may-not-know-about-the-ark-of-the-covenant.html.
[5] Gary
D. Kinnaman, AND SIGNS SHALL FOLLOW (Translated and published in Nepali
language by Good News publisher, 2017), 9.
[6] “Speaking
in Tongues: A Biblical Perspective | Z-Library,” Z-Library Project, 84–95,
accessed April 19, 2024, https://z-lib.io/book/13633193.
[7] “The
Shepherd’s Staff by Ralph Mahoney - PDF Drive,” 627–30, accessed April 19,
2024, http://www.pdfdrive.com/the-shepherds-staff-e186497746.html.
[8] Towns
and Porter, The Ten Greatest Revivals Ever, 11.
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