FIVE REASONS WHY THE CHARISMATIC DRAMA IS DISTURBING

And so it has happened again! It is becoming a routine, isn’t it? Surely we have got the drill by now. It usually goes something like this. A church and its leader makes headlines and go viral for some extraordinary act performed by the “man of God”. From the spraying of doom to making people eat grass, to making a phone call to God in the middle of the service, to giving some sort of revelation, to claiming to heal entire hospital wards to now raising the dead.

But the routine doesn’t end there, such drama is followed by the clamour and jokes on social media. And in a sense, both rage and laughter are proper responses. But I wonder if this drama for what it really is; a dangerous disease that does damage to the word of God, the true gospel and the credibility of the church. Let me highlight five problems with it.

Attacks the sufficiency of scripture

The preoccupation with dreams, visions and new revelation often dubbed ‘a word from the Lord’ in the charismatic movement attacks the sufficiency of scripture. People are no longer interested in what the Lord actually says in His word, but what the dream means and if the man of God has tapped into the Shekinah glory to give them a message. It is no longer the faithful exposition of scripture that essential, the ability to interpret dreams and visions. When you do that for a while, you end up with an entire stream of “Christians”, who are not only biblically illiterate but doubt the sufficiency of scripture. No wonder it is not uncommon for people to hear and see what the passage is saying and still follow what their man of God has said. Yet Peter who had some glorious experiences with the Lord tells us that the word is surer (2 Peter 1:19-21).

Dilutes the gospel

The gospel according to the Bible is a holy God as the creator, father and judge of the world giving His only son Jesus Christ as a perfect sinless sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins by dying in the place of a sinful, rebellious people who deserve wrath and judgment, and yet if they believe in the work of Christ and repent of their sins, they will be saved (Acts 17:22-32, Romans 3:11-18, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, John 3:23). That is gospel, the good news! Sadly all we hear now is deliverance and prosperity of all propositions. If you believe in a “Jesus” you will be delivered from all sorts of demons, spirits and curses that need binding or loosening and have been hindering your progress in life.

In all this the message of the sinfulness of man and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus is absent. Sin is not the problem, demons are. Repentance and forgiveness of sins in Christ are not the solutions, deliverance from spirits is. Dear friends, this is the gospel. And the Bible makes it very clear: a diluted gospel is no gospel at all (Galatians 1:6-10).

Mars the image of Christianity

A pastor (prophet) who fraudulently and shamefully dupes people into thinking he has performed a miracle or makes false declarations about events or makes people perform despicable acts (eating grass, undressing people etc) ends up shaming every Christian and church. The world has no categories for us, they do not pay attention to denominations or differences in doctrine, let alone, care about them. All they know are Christians.

Therefore what such drama does is make us look unintelligent and immoral. That someone will do such ridiculous things and still have a following does not paint a pretty picture. Such acts heighten the notion that Christians are not logical.

All this affects evangelism. It makes it very hard to reach the educated middle to upper class because the only version of Christianity they have is what they see go viral on social media and want nothing to do with it. This drama mars the image of the Christian faith.  

Builds a man-centred religion

The charismatic movement is a man-centred movement with a man-centred message. The churches are centred on the one man often the founder and CEO. And the message is about alleviating people’s problems (i.e. sickness, barrenness, jobs etc.). God then simply exists to make your life better, healthier and richer. The sovereignty and glory of God are denied not explicitly in the message but in the practice.

Is it any wonder that we spend time talking about the man and his acts and not his God or the message? When was the last time you heard a discussion concerning Bushiri’s message? Unless of course, he is talking about himself.

The trouble the event is you have to keep reinventing the wheel and coming up with something new and fresh every day. Hence, miracles have moved from healing back problems to ‘raising the dead’.

They glory in the devil

Strangely, this movement has a preoccupation with the devil. They see the devil in everything and have it their business to bind him on a weekly basis. They have creatively concocted a doctrine of demons such that they know the names of demons and their dealing places.

In a twisted kind of way, they create a powerful devil who they (the men of God) can overcome. So, in essence, they are the ones who are powerful! Is the devil real? Yes. Are we at war with him and his minnows? You bet we are. Has God taught us how to overcome him? Absolutely! Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you (Jas 4:6-8, 1 Peter 5:7-8).

Dear friends, when the jokes and memes come to an end, I urge to contemplate further. This drama is not just laughable, it is cause for weeping. Weeping for the many blind followers who are hooked into this deception. The rise in false teachers should be wind in the sails of those who proclaim the true gospel,  to sound the anthem, Jesus Saves, Jesus saves!