"Praise brings the victory". Our younger readers might have never heard such a statement. Back in the day - the 80's - that almost summed up charismatic doctrine on praise and worship.
Along with it was a triumphant - some would say triumphalist - outlook on the world.
Consider these lines from some of our songs of praise:
"We'll take the nations for Jesus as Satan's kingdom falls
Righteousness and truth will prevail through our God"
or
"There's a great and mighty army
In the earth today,
Dressed in splendid armour,
They're in full array.
The hosts of darkness tremble
As they walk their way,
There's a great and mighty army in the earth today.
"So I'll shout, I'll shout the victory,
The enemy is under my feet.
So I'll shout I'll shout the victory,
For great is our King, great is our King, great is the King of Kings!"
Then the next verse went "I am in that mighty army in the earth today..." etc.
There were loads of "victory" songs like this.
And we had teaching on praise. Remember all those Hebrew word studies? And how Paul and Silas got the victory in jail because they were praising?
Is this still the outlook in the charismatic world? Have we forgotten this dimension of praise? Or is it so embedded in the charismatic psyche and liturgy that we just don't notice it any more?
Have we lost the note of triumph? Or have we just got over our triumphalism? I'd love to know what you think.
And for our younger readers. Please feel free to try this at home. You don't need your parents' permission.
Above is a tame version of one of the above songs.
Showing posts with label Charismatic Movement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charismatic Movement. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
A church like heaven
I spent some time with a friend the other day who is a little older than me.
He told me of his experiences in the early days of what was known as the renewal movement.
His church was opposed to the gifts of the Spirit and those who wanted to know more were forced to meet in secret and discuss such things.
Eventually people began to leave their evangelical churches and form new charismatic churches. He was involved in one locally, almost from its inception.
What was it like? "Like being in heaven". That's what he felt.
I guess sometimes we take our Pentecostal / Charismatic heritage just a little bit for granted.
He told me of his experiences in the early days of what was known as the renewal movement.
His church was opposed to the gifts of the Spirit and those who wanted to know more were forced to meet in secret and discuss such things.
Eventually people began to leave their evangelical churches and form new charismatic churches. He was involved in one locally, almost from its inception.
What was it like? "Like being in heaven". That's what he felt.
I guess sometimes we take our Pentecostal / Charismatic heritage just a little bit for granted.
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Who was the Strict Baptist who prophesied?
No, it's not a question from Charismatic Trivial Pursuit.
I was having a clear out on Monday and discovered some notes from a Randy Clark talk c.1996. He said some very interesting things. One was that in 1954 a Strict Baptist pastor had prophesied 20 years of God restoring grace to the church, 20 years of God restoring New Testament church life and then 20 years of revival.
Has anyone else heard of this prophecy? Anyone know who this brother is?
I was having a clear out on Monday and discovered some notes from a Randy Clark talk c.1996. He said some very interesting things. One was that in 1954 a Strict Baptist pastor had prophesied 20 years of God restoring grace to the church, 20 years of God restoring New Testament church life and then 20 years of revival.
Has anyone else heard of this prophecy? Anyone know who this brother is?
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
How serious are we about reaching people?
Graeme Arthur sent me a link to a post on Ben Arment's blog that contrasted the lengths to which companies go to generate leads - i.e. get your name and address! - with the way in which the church pursues new people.
There is something in this short article that resonates with me. Some of you will immediately think, "We can't bring a business outlook into evangelism."
Think of it this way: if business will go to such extraordinary and sometimes expensive lengths to flog us a bit of temporal clobber, why should we be any less intense and intentional in seeking to meet with people to share Christ?
It concerns me sometimes how "spiritual" people have very little concern to engage people socially. I think this is especially true of Pente / Chari world. We want to zap 'em or bash 'em - anything but talk to them, so it sometimes seems.
Why is it that people who claim to be so concerned about lost people wont turn out to a social evening and spend some time getting to know non-Christians?
Perhaps one of the most important skills the Christians of this generation could learn is that of networking. By all means be in faith for the next great move of God and pray around the town if you like. But neither of the above are a substitute for talking to real people.
For some common sense on networking take a look here. Just think of all those people that you could network with as real people who really do need Jesus.
There is something in this short article that resonates with me. Some of you will immediately think, "We can't bring a business outlook into evangelism."
Think of it this way: if business will go to such extraordinary and sometimes expensive lengths to flog us a bit of temporal clobber, why should we be any less intense and intentional in seeking to meet with people to share Christ?
It concerns me sometimes how "spiritual" people have very little concern to engage people socially. I think this is especially true of Pente / Chari world. We want to zap 'em or bash 'em - anything but talk to them, so it sometimes seems.
Why is it that people who claim to be so concerned about lost people wont turn out to a social evening and spend some time getting to know non-Christians?
Perhaps one of the most important skills the Christians of this generation could learn is that of networking. By all means be in faith for the next great move of God and pray around the town if you like. But neither of the above are a substitute for talking to real people.
For some common sense on networking take a look here. Just think of all those people that you could network with as real people who really do need Jesus.
Saturday, 22 November 2008
What's out there
Just a few things that recently caught my eye.
The headline in Friday's Guardian 2025: The End of U.S. Dominance was certainly eye-catching. The article covered a paper published in the U.S. by the National Intelligence Council which paints a picture of an increasingly fragmented world in which the U.S. doesn't retain the ability it has had for the last seventy or so years to influence the shape and direction of international affairs. You can read the full report here
Discovered The Spectator online. Took a look at Melanie Phillips' blog where I found an article entitled The Barbarism of Ideologues. It is the kind of hard-hitting stuff you would expect from Melanie Phillips, but I think her analysis of how our society has developed (declined?) is compelling and not a million miles from the truth.
On the ecclesiastical front J. Lee Grady has a sobering article about Charismatic Meltdown. This is must reading. We simply must realise how badly things can go wrong when we compromise on our fundamental beliefs. And in the same vein, take a look at Adrian Warnock's posts on the atonement - he's at the top of my blog list.
The headline in Friday's Guardian 2025: The End of U.S. Dominance was certainly eye-catching. The article covered a paper published in the U.S. by the National Intelligence Council which paints a picture of an increasingly fragmented world in which the U.S. doesn't retain the ability it has had for the last seventy or so years to influence the shape and direction of international affairs. You can read the full report here
Discovered The Spectator online. Took a look at Melanie Phillips' blog where I found an article entitled The Barbarism of Ideologues. It is the kind of hard-hitting stuff you would expect from Melanie Phillips, but I think her analysis of how our society has developed (declined?) is compelling and not a million miles from the truth.
On the ecclesiastical front J. Lee Grady has a sobering article about Charismatic Meltdown. This is must reading. We simply must realise how badly things can go wrong when we compromise on our fundamental beliefs. And in the same vein, take a look at Adrian Warnock's posts on the atonement - he's at the top of my blog list.
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