This question comes from someone who was formerly involved in charismatic services but is asking about why they draw so many people:
Question: Pastor, what do you think is the draw (aside from ability to “control/manipulate”) to the craziness that is seen in “Holy Spirit” services. I honestly never felt the “power” or the laughing thing… I only spoke in tongues as mimicry. I’m not sure what the lure is to the crazy antics I saw and wondered if it’s just like a mob mentality/wanting to belong.
Answer: I think the lure can indeed be a mob mentality as you describe it and this can explain much of what is taking place in those kind of services. I think too, a motivation can also be wanting to have a genuine experience of God (which by itself is a good thing) but never questioning what is happening. I know that was true in my own life when I was involved in them. I wanted God, as I do now, but looking back, I never asked enough questions. When we fail to ask ourselves, “where can I find this activity in the Bible?” we become vulnerable to deception.
“… test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” – 1 Thess 5:21,22
Scripture itself (the words inspired by the Holy Spirit) tells us to test everything. “Everything” is an all inclusive term. God Himself tells us to test everything. NOT doing that means grieving the Holy Spirit who told us to do so.
The means of testing is not a feeling we might have or an experience that occurred. The word of God is “more sure” and more trustworthy than any possible human experience (2 Peter 1:16-21). The means of testing is the Scripture (see Isaiah 8:19, 20; 2 Tim. 3:16, 17). The Bible is the Holy Spirit’s book. Therefore we all need to know our Bibles and employ a biblical filter always.
Lets read another passage in Acts 17. There, “The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed…” (v. 10-12)
It is right and noble to check everything taught by the means of “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things are so.” If something passes the Scripture test, we should hold fast to it. If not, we should throw it out. The Holy Spirit (through the Scripture) tells us to do exactly that.
I will go further and say, Scripture tells us that the fruit of the Spirit in a person’s life (and by extension, the life of the church) is not chaos, confusion and an inability to control ourselves like drunken men and women. No, the fruit of the Spirit, amongst other characteristics, is self control (see Galatians 5). Let that truth sink in for a moment. Someone FULL of the Holy Spirit is someone operating in love, someone under control, someone kind, someone gentle, etc. – not someone who acts like a mad man.
A misinterpretation of Scripture means that verses such as “in His presence is fullness of joy” are made to become a basis for out of control (the opposite of self control), wild, erratic behavior. But Scripture says otherwise.
These familiar words are still God’s words. Let us hear them again: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22, 23)
Verses like “these are not drunk as you suppose” (Acts 2:15) are wrongly interpreted to mean that those who were filled with the Spirit acted as if drunk and out of control (an assumption in charismatic circles). But that is not a true interpretation of the biblical text. It is something falsely assumed and read into the text.
The Bible, rightly read and rightly interpreted is the safeguard against deception. Deceived people, deceive people. When there is no interest in true interpretation of the Bible, all that remains are false foundations and therefore false experiences.
Statements like “do not be drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit” are made to mean that being filled with the Spirit is a lot like being drunk – but again, that is not only not something taught by the text but in fact, the exact opposite of what the text says… The verse is a command that says, “don’t be drunk with wine – but (instead in total contrast) be filled with the Spirit.”
Ephesians 5:18 says, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit…”
Amen to that! Amen and amen! That being established, what would this look like should we indeed be filled with the Spirit?
Thankfully, we don’t have to guess. The very next verse, a continuation of the sentence, explains:
19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Not being drunk with wine and being filled with the Spirit means exactly what the Bible says it means and leads to Scripture being cited, songs being sung to the Lord, the giving of thanks and submitting to one another. You will notice, there is not even a hint of crazy, out of control activity. I would say, the exact opposite is the case.
When people are not interested in true interpretation and true doctrine, there you have a people NOT filled with the Spirit. That is because, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and reverence for the biblical text is a fruit of true Holy Spirit inspired activity. It is indeed sad that there seems to be no interest whatsoever in looking at the texts usually cited to see if the things claimed are so.
The Holy Spirit gives people a desire to know and rightly interpret the inspired words of the Bible. When misinterpretation of biblical texts become the basis for experience, and taught as such, everything is built on a faulty foundation. While claiming to be a “move of the Holy Spirit” the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with such a thing. And it is the book the Holy Spirit inspired, the Bible, that tells us this.