Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash
The world has been plunged into confusion and mayhem. Where chaos dwells and people’s attention has been drawn to something, it is common to live as if the current focus is the only thing that our lives revolve around. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ has also been plunged into confusion and bickering. Some of the arguments are worthwhile, some of them are just petty, consequently, while we argue over how big someone’s mask should be, or how far you would want me to be from you in the pews, or even whether the volume on the live-stream was audible enough, pause for a second and recall that the Charismatic movement (the name it and claim it people) still exist and are up and about, more dangerous and daring than ever. The Evangelical Church has been lulled to sleep by the COVID-19 and has forgotten it’s mandate as laid bare for us by our brother Jude,
“I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 1:4 )
It may seem that a lot of the charlatans who do their things ‘in the name of Jesus’ have hid in caves somewhere, but I would warn that it is only a matter of time before we see them emerging like mammals that are coming out of hibernation. We do praise the Lord for the fact that the noise, hysteria and gibberish that has polluted the airwaves from these churches has not been heard in a while, thus we are grateful and encouraged by the temporary peace, but that could change in a blink of an eye. The prophet Jeremiah does ask two rhetorical and pertinent questions, he asks this,
“Can the Ethiopian change its skin, or the leopard his spots?” (Jeremiah 13:23)
Likewise unless God Himself changes the hearts of the false teachers that are numerous in the charismatic circles and their followers, nothing will, they will remain the same. If in some sort of euphoric way we are led to think that the momentary serenity is victory then we are mildly delusional and not ready for the madness that is to ensue.
Charismaticism is a pandemic
As a pastor, it breaks my heart to hear of whole households that have been reduced to ashes as a result of Neo Pentecostalism/Charismatic-ism. Apart from the majority of the congregation that the ‘papa’ has slept with, there is the reality of the financial degradation of the congregant, the financial ascension of the ‘papa’ and his family, the poverty that awaits the one who continually ‘seeds’ and a myriad of a lot of things – the picture is one of mindless mysticism that is done ‘ In the name of Jesus.’ This should worry us to the very depths of our souls and cause us to pray for and preach to our neighbors who are ensnared in this way. We have a pandemic within a pandemic, except that charismatic-ism is lying dormant and will awaken anytime the world decides to “open it’s doors”. One of the most deflating realities is that even after being subject to abuse, people will still come back to that place and continue to worship a carved image, a figment of their imagination. You can rest assured that the God of the Bible is not the one being worshiped there.
Willful ignorance of the God’s Sovereignty
We are coasting towards the end of the year 2020 and already social media is awash with ‘2021 is my year’. Have people not learnt that God can bring the whole world to a stand still through a mere virus? If there’s one thing I have learnt in these few months is that God holds and knows tomorrow. It is presumption of the highest order to claim knowledge of the future or even pretend to speak things into existence, we should live with the truth that, ‘only the Lord willing’ (James 4:15) we shall do this tomorrow or we will go there tomorrow. This should send huge tremors of awe and fear of what God will do to those who continue living in stubbornness and disobedience against Him. Those that will come back having not taken time to introspect and turned to the true living God will bring condemnation upon themselves.
Wail & Weep
The Evangelical church, and all those who are truly children of God should wail and weep at opportunities wasted in evangelizing to those who are lost in sin and bewilderment in this time. This was a time to take on a family member or friend who is steeped in Charismatic-ism and show them that the path they have taken is folly and leads to damnation. Show them the great doctrines of Scripture – Atonement, Substitution, Double Imputation, The Deity of Christ and point them to the cross where they will find life. I have no doubt that through this pandemic, the Lord has called many to Himself through true Gospel preaching, but we ask for more, we ought to point those in Charismatic circles to the word of God, whilst wailing, weeping and praying.
