One of the many warnings Jesus gave when speaking of the scourge of deception was against the present-day cult of the Holy Spirit. To those who would accuse me of “blaspheming the Holy Spirit”, or of “not believing in the Holy Spirit” I say that I have no intention of blaspheming the beautiful and holy Spirit of God or of disbelieving. He is with me now, as he is with all true believers in the one and only son of God. My intention is to drive us all to focus on the real object of worship.
Jesus said this when speaking of false prophets:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21 – 23).
BEYOND AND BEFORE? Those in the movement are convinced they have gone beyond and above the stage of novice which most believers languish in. They have ascended to a higher plane, and they are far more equipped and powerful than the average Christian on the street. Rather like a masonic hierarchy, those who consider themselves to have been empowered and initiated into next-level Christianity have more leverage over the problems of life and the demons of daily existence. They are more likely to be heard by God. They have access to miraculous spiritual gifts, when the rest of us can only read our Bibles and try to do good.
The message of the New Testament, were these people to consult it, is very different. Power in the Spirit, which is entirely God’s power and not belonging to any man or woman is available – at the will of God and not humanity – to any true follower of Jesus Christ. Notice in the following examples there is not even any mention of the Holy Spirit. Instead, all we need for life and godliness comes from knowing Jesus:
“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:2-4).
EVERYTHING MEANS EVERYTHING. What’s missing from “everything we need”? Clearly nothing is missing: it’s all in Christ, and not in a subsequent or alternative system of claimed works of the Spirit which only the initiated can partake in. Here’s what Paul said about this, along with a warning against those who would convince you otherwise:
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness” (Colossians 2:8-10).
It’s all about Jesus Christ, and once you have Jesus, you have it all, say Peter and Paul. Some branches of Christianity have made the Spirit the star of the show, and believe themselves to be better for it. Yes, the Holy Spirit is there, vital yet in the background, like the oil which allows your car engine to operate, in all things and all matters involving faith and godliness. However, the Spirit willingly and obediently takes a back seat to the Son of God and is not looking to receive worship and praise for Himself:
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come (John 16:13).
OUT ON A LIMB. The present – day movement which exalts the Holy Spirit above all and attributes all things powerful to itself is off the rails. It’s failed to see the true object of our worship and of the Spirit’s worship, which is Jesus Christ. It’s gone out on a limb. It’s extrapolated and invented. It’s miscalculated and misinterpreted. It is mis-representing the gospel and the word of God. It is making up its own “word of God” and making a mockery of the true work and power of God. It has created an invalid class system within the Church; a world of haves and have – nots; a world in which some of the children of God are considered to be inferior and half – baked. Is it a cult? It seems to fulfill much of the definition of a cult.
THE DANGER. Those in the Holy Spirit movement are in great danger. The danger is the false conviction that they have “arrived” spiritually once they’ve been initiated, or so long as they regularly fall on the floor in obedience to the minister who loves to feel the power he thinks he has. The danger of the miraculous, whether it’s fake and puny or even if it’s real, is the deception that those engaged in it all are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, when in reality they should be learning through the Spirit and in the name of Christ how to love, how to obey, how to be patient, kind, godly, humble and longsuffering. Very often these things do not manifest at all in the self – proclaimed super -spiritual Christian. With this in mind, we should heed the warning of Jesus Christ, who made it abundantly clear that the miraculous – whether real or fake – is no evidence of true Godliness, and no evidence even of true salvation.
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 