No Weird Stuff
I came across an Assembly of God church’s Facebook page that had this under its “getting to know us” tab, “NO WEIRD STUFF!” Anyone who knows me knows that I have been saying for years now that the postmodern age is changing the Pentecostal Church’s core beliefs and this is a sure sign of that.
“A Pentecostal church that does not have what we call altar services, does not lay hands on the sick, or does not listen to the voice of the Lord in messages in prophecy or tongues and interpretation really isn’t committed to being Pentecostal. We may fear that such things will drive people away, but experience has shown us over and over again that live Pentecostal churches grow, and dull churches fade away.”[1]
This is the “NO WEIRD STUFF” the church above is talking about. Healing lines, altar calls, singing and speaking in tongues, prophecies, and interpretation of tongues; these are now considered WEIRD STUFF by the postmodern church.
I was lectured to not long ago by an Assemblies of God minister who told me, “Young people are not going buy into this anymore. We have moved into a new age where these things are no longer acceptable.” There is this idea that Pentecostal expression is going to be different in the Twenty-First Century. My response to that is, really?
Did God not have the ability to look forward in the Twenty-First Century and know enough to give us what we needed to have expression that would see a world impacted and changed for Him?
1 Cor 14:22-27
22 Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. 23 So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, 25 and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” 26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.
NIV
“All of these must be done,” speaks volumes to me and tells me that God’s plan for strengthening and equipping His church is the same as it was in the First Century. At Angle Lake Neighborhood Church it is my hope and desire that people will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, that the sick and lonely hearted will find the healing that they need, that those who are bound by life controlling issues will be set free by the power of the Holy Spirit, that the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be present as God equips and empowers His people to set the world on fire for Him and that the fruit of the Holy Spirit will help each and every believer to grow to full maturity in Him. If that is WEIRD STUFF, then Lord come and mess us up in Your glory and mercy!
1 Cor 1:18-31
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. 26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God — that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
NIV
[1] Thomas Trask and David Womack, Back to the Altar: A Call to Spiritual Awakening (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1994), 108-109.
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