Leaving the Charismatic Movement
The following is a re-post of something originally written on my personal Facebook page.
For most of my life I have lived in a beautiful, elaborate house. I spent years studying its architecture, furnishing the rooms, enjoying the big house & all of its intricacies. Then, satisfied with the house, feeling I had learned all of its nooks and crannies, searched every room, knew all there was to know- I bought a flashlight. I took that flashlight & I crawled underneath the house, and I began to inspect the foundation. And I suddenly realized that the house I had loved was built on something faulty. The foundation had cracks; it was visibly crumbling in some areas. I had to make a decision. I couldn’t stay in a house on such a dangerous foundation, and I didn’t have the resources to fix it myself. I had to move.
I’m talking in a metaphor here. But it’s the best way I have found to describe what I’m going through.
Most of my life I have been in the wave of Pentecostal/ Charismatic tradition. TBN, 700 Club, The Elijah List, Kenneth Hagin, Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton, Todd White, Patricia King, Joyce Meyer… the list goes on and on. Hundreds of dollars spent on books, countless hours spent listening to podcasts. Years spent in a church classroom watching sessions from Bethel’s School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding, CA. Sitting through conferences and weekend retreats about supernatural evangelism & signs and wonders. Learning about “generals of the faith” like Parham, Branham, Dowie, and others…
I enjoyed the pretty finish work in the house, gleaming crystal doorknobs and fresh white paint. But I could not see the foundation, I could not see inside the walls. To say it another way- I knew the narrative, but not the whole story.
I’ve been researching these movements, the theology at the roots, and the historical people who are venerated by the modern ones in this movement. And I’m disappointed. I’m displaced. I feel like much of what I used to hold to is shifting sand, and I’m left only with mere pebbles of truth.
My intention is not to go over all of my findings here. But, I would like to share that I am going through something. I’m changing my mind. I’m repenting of wrong ideas about the Bible, about Jesus, and about humanity. And I will share more as I can.
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If you want a good resource to understand what I’m going through, I suggest the documentary “American Gospel: Christ Alone”. After months of research, I kept hearing this movie title come up & I finally watched it. The filmmaker does a great job putting together the ideas that I’ve been grappling with & contrasting what we’ve been sold about Christianity (primarily by Charismatic/ Word of Faith/ New Apostolic Reformation ministers) with what the historic Christian faith has taught as shown in the scriptures. There is an abridged version of the documentary available to watch free on YouTube.
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I realize a lot of my friends are in Charismatic/ Pentecostal circles. I love you guys, and I have no intention of picking fights or attempting to push my ideas on you. But things will probably sound different & maybe I’ll share some content that seems different too- Different from what I’ve agreed with and shared with others for years. And I want to officially share why. It’s been almost a year since I began this journey of studying history and theology and learning that what I have accepted I no longer accept in many aspects…
I’m planning to start a blog for my future thoughts & for sharing research on this. I want my facebook to be a fun place, but I also want to be real and update you all on what’s going on in my life- and this has been a huge shift in my life. I do not label myself Charismatic anymore.
I’m not exactly sure where I land yet, but I am certain that Jesus is the center of it all & the gospel in its simplicity- that Jesus is God, who came in the flesh to pay for our sins and bring peace between God & man, to save us from the wrath to come, who died in order to take our place & excuse us from that wrath, to assure us of eternal life and regeneration through His resurrection from the dead- This gospel is the power of God to save us, and it is the main thing. It will always be my central belief.
