A quick story:
A friend of mine recently went to a new prayer group started at Church X. Let’s call said friend “Lou.” The group’s theme was “How to Pray.” Lou was curious, so he went.
About 30 people were gathered in one of the classrooms. The leader spoke for a while about praying to receive “words.” At one point, one of the co-leaders spoke quite loudly, saying, “I give you authority in the name of Jesus Christ!” and then said, “Let’s all be quiet and ask to hear from the Lord.” A hush fell. One older gentleman in the group, though, started reciting The Lord’s Prayer out loud. When he finished, he quietly said, “THIS is the model of prayer we’ve been given by the Lord.”
Everyone in the group stared at him — as my friend described it, “as if he were crazy.” The man fell silent.
After a few moments more, the leader said, “Raise your hand if you are NOT getting a word from the Lord.”
During the silence, Lou had been flooded with Scripture, but not ‘words,’ so he raised his hand. The leader walked over, face puckered in concern, apparently, and whispered, “Ohhh. Let me pray for you.”
Lou whispered back, “I’d really like to talk to you about the focus of the group.”
The leader glossed over the comment.
“Well, were you getting a word?”
“No. I was getting Scripture.”
“Oh. Well, let me pray for you.” He did. Lou still “got” Scripture — and nothing else.
The leader simply turned away from him.
“Okaay. Who has a word for someone in the group?”
Most of the hands went up and one young fellow was called on to start. He went ’round the room, giving words to everyone. They were generic, about “freedom” and “new things,” nothing truly individual or relevatory. God is universally in the business of freedom; universally in the business of doing new things, all the time. Nevertheless, the leader was so excited, he just called out, “Well! You’re on a roll! Why don’t you just ‘do’ the whole room?”
My friend left without getting his word and without saying another.
Maybe this is your church. Or the church of someone you know.
“I thought it, so it must be from God,” right?
-sigh-
Why does this bug me so much?
I’m going through a phase of being extra sensitive to people making God look foolish, and this fits right in!
It also sounded very totalitarian/manipulative (is there one word that means both?). “God will do exactly what we say he will, as long as YOU’RE getting with the program!”
Yeesh
“I thought it, so it must be from God,†right?
Or it’s dirty little brother, “It happened in a church or in a Bible study, so it must be from God, right?”
Perhaps they should have been praying for the gift of discernment.
I’m wondering what scripture God gave to your friend. Maybe that was the word that everyone else in the room needed to hear.
*banging head against wall repeatedly*
I can’t. Just can’t. I’m done with this. Done. The Lord’s Prayer is perfect. And even *that* wasn’t meant to be taken ver batim. It was a *model* for prayer. ‘Course *we* took it and made it liturgy, didn’t we? (I’m rambling again, aren’t I?)
Okay. This is the thing. It seems like there are two extremes in the church. “Church A” is involved in *this* sort of bogus rubbish. “A” seeks the “gifts of the Spirit” with witchhunting and spiritual snobbery as its primary m.o.. “A” places “gifts” (and legalism) above everything else, generally makes bold and divisive pronouncements from the pulpit — equivocating anyone with doubt, questions, or simple faith as “rebellious”, “backlsiding” or “lukewarm”. “A” emphasizes “tongues” as the pinnacle of all events and stresses that if one does not have an official (and oft-used) “prayer language”, that there is something wrong with them spiritually. “A” looks down on other churches and denominations, and thus, through their abuse of it, SCRIPTURE. “A” takes Scripture and makes it something it was never intended to be. It drives its members to the cliff of self-doubt, self-loathing and to mistrust — mistrust of anyone and anything other than (abusive) “Church A”.
“Church B” is the “dead” church that smiles and hands out verbal Prozac at the door, patting and smoothing everyone and assuring them that all is well, not to worry, not to judge and just to smile and sit on their hands. “B”‘s “solutions” generally involve getting more involved in church softball, picnics, reading “The Purpose Driven Life” or giving more money to renovate some on-campus facility. “B” never advises its members to get on their face and pray, spend enormous amounts of time in the Word or seek anything beyond what they can see with their own eyes or touch with their own previous experience. “B” stays in the shallow water of the Biblical experience, sends forth a tepid and flaccid word from the pulpit and sings songs that do more to anesthetize than inspire.
Finding the “happy medium church” (you know, the “fire” without the “brimstone”?) is the dilemma in which I am currently embroiled. Inside I’m screaming, “Why bother going at all?! WHYYYY???!!!”
BUT.
I have to remember Jesus and the disciples went to Temple. Hardly an inspiring place. Hardly a place where they heard their own views and understanding of Scripture validated. They went — until the Jews drove them out. “Is a student above their Master?” No.
Sorry if this is incoherent, I’m getting married in 10 days.
Sorry if I took up too much space. This topic hacks me off — but good.
I just can’t stand stuff like this. How it must grieve the Holy Spirit, to have His Word shunned for the sake of man’s words.
Pitiful.
Spot on, WG. Seems like two churches to me, too.
And I haven’t even scratched the surface of my personal experience in this kind of thing. I will continue to post about it, though it may offend some, because I need to process my experience and because I think it’s important to talk about.
I was deeply involved in these kinds of things myself until fairly recently and once you disengage yourself, you feel almost as though you’re coming out of a fog of brainwashing.
And, yes, where DOES one go to church? I’ve been to both A and B in the last five years.
And why are the “gifts of the Spirit” sought more than the “fruit of the Spirit”?
Good question. I’ve always wondered that.
And why are the “gifts of the Spirit†sought more than the “fruit of the Spirit�
Food allergies? 😉