Halloween Vs Reformation Day

October 31 is both Halloween and Reformation Day. I have many FB friends who celebrate either or both holidays. Some don’t celebrate Halloween because some of the Halloween traditions were originally rooted in medieval or early colonial superstition. They would probably give other reasons, based on poor knowledge and a lack of understanding of real history which they have been fed through years of bad propaganda sermons, but reality is what it is. Due to their misconceptions, some are even afraid of Halloween. 

As a Protestant I am not supposed to say this, but I am far less disturbed by old superstitions about ghosts and goblins than I am by the Body of Christ being violently torn asunder by a carnal monk and a carnal pope settling their differences over important spiritual matters in the most carnal fashion possible with no regard for the Lord’s body or the unity and love of God. 

We are aghast at zombie and slasher flicks but don’t bat an eye at the Lord’s Body constantly lopping off parts of itself and casting them aside like a decaying corpse or

victim in one of those movies. In the past 501 years we have gone from one Body to two bodies and now to thousands of bodies, all because we are the hand that constantly says to the foot “I don’t need you”, and we follow the Reformation pattern of carnal schism is rather than mature dialogue and a commitment to relationship and unity. 

I pray that someday we actually begin to care about the expressed desire and prayer of Jesus that His Body would be one, even as He and the Father are one. But hey, it’s not like the desires of Jesus should be a guiding concern for the Church that claims Him as their Lord or anything right? 

While I am a Protestant by theology, I can’t help but to look back at the Reformation as one of the darkest periods in the history of the Church, and not as the great event we still proudly celebrate 501 years later. While I laud much of the doctrine of the Reformers, I view the Reformation itself as a mistake and an event that both Protestants and Catholics should be ashamed of. The more I study the Reformation the stronger this conviction grows in me. Nothing was actually reformed by the Reformation, it was merely a glorified schism. Not a single one of the crowning doctrines of the Reformation was actually new, but they had all already been being debated within the existing Church at the time. All the Reformation did was remove the voices, of all those who stood for those beliefs, from the existing church so that when the Catholic Church was finally ready to truly examine those ideas, the Protestant Voice was no longer there to be heard. I can’t help but imagine what the Church might look like today if Luther weren’t such a prickly divisive jerk, and if the Pope hadn’t been so determined to make sure the Papacy didn’t re-lose its degree of supreme value and authority, that it had only just recently wrestled back away from the conciliar movement, that he was blinded by and driven by the struggle for earthly power. What if they had decided to handle the entire situation with spiritual maturity and a heart of love for their Christian brother instead?  What if, instead of a worldly power struggle, they followed the teaching and direction of God, and maybe even been more concerned with God’s kingdom than they were with their own? As a Protestant, I focus much of my thought and rebuke towards those on my side of the schism. That is not because I feel the bulk of the blame is all on the Reformers or that the Catholics of that day do not also share greatly in the blame, but merely because I feel the more Biblical approach is always to let judgment and correction come to your own house first before it reaches out to others. 

I don’t know how we will ever find unity again, or what it will look like when we find it. I’m certain it will not come in the form of either the Protestants nor the Catholics suddenly recanting and submitting to the other’s authority, nor do I think that it should happen that way. Both groups need each other and both have truths of the Kingdom and a representation of God on this Earth that the other needs if we ever hope to attain to the fullness of Christ. But I do know that until we at least acknowledge the problem and begin to work in that direction we have no hope of ever getting there. A journey cannot begin until you start taking your first steps. 

Christian Witchcraft

     Whenever we hear the word “witchcraft” most of us are prone to conjure up images reminiscent of Harry Potter, or of Macbeth’s witches standing over their cauldron. It is a natural connection we draw, because our understanding of the word is shaped by our cultural paradigm. In most cases this wouldn’t matter because most discussions on the subject would be held in light of our mutual cultural understanding. If you and I have the same understanding of the word then there is little room for misunderstanding, aside from figuring out if we are speaking metaphorically or literally, when we call someone a witch. What happens, on the other hand, when we apply our preconceived mental picture to a usage of the word from centuries ago, such as biblical texts? The picture of witchcraft you and I hold is based on a concept developed in Middle Ages Europe, centuries after the Bible was written. Our association would be meaningless to the people who wrote and received the teachings of the Bible. So the question becomes, what do we do with biblical teaching about witchcraft? Do we ignore the original meaning and intent of the authors, and superimpose our own ideas, or do we seek to understand the original intent and then prayerfully seek wisdom on how to contextualize those passages for our modern times? I believe the answer is the second option.

            The Bible did not have in mind a Medieval European witch, or a young wizard with a scar on his forehead heading to Hogwarts, when it warned against witchcraft. It was specifically referring to Ancient Near Eastern Sorcery as it was practiced by the nations surrounding Israel. At this point, it might seem easy enough to assume that these passages hold no relevance anymore because the “witches” in question, along with their cultures, are long dead. So we might as well just ignore them, or go back to burning J.K. Rowling books, because they hold no relevance to modern beliefs, right? Unfortunately, the teachings and ideas the Bible took issue with are not a thing of the past, as we might assume. In fact, these beliefs have experienced a resurgence in our time, and are being taught by two very different groups. The first group which has recycled many of the tenets of Ancient Near Eastern Sorcery is the New Age community. The second group is actually made up of Christians! Specifically those within the Word of Faith community.

Before you start picking up stones to throw at me, hear me out. First off, I am not calling people who believe Word of Faith theology witches, or trying to say they are bad evil people, or that we should break out the old Salem pyres for them. Many Word of Faith people are amazing men and women who truly love God and want to serve Him with all of their hearts. Some of the people who have had the most profound impact on my Christian walk and encouraged me to live whole-heartedly for God, are avid Word of Faith proponents. I am in no way seeking to belittle or condemn people who hold these beliefs. I will, however, attempt to demonstrate that several of the fundamental teachings of the movement hold a closer resemblance to Ancient Near Eastern Sorcery than to sound biblical teaching, and explain how these ideas initially began to be incorporated into Christianity. I should also disclose that I am, myself, a charismatic/Pentecostal leaning Christian. I believe in the gifts of the Spirit and I have personally witnessed miracles by God. Both my personal experience and the testimonies of Scripture and Christian history make it impossible for me to not fall into the charismatic camp to some degree. In other words, I am not seeking herein to discredit the ideas of believer’s authority or God’s working of miracles. I am instead addressing the fact that we charismatics often tend to hold to really bad theological foundations seeking to support and explain what our experience leads us to believe. 

I should also briefly share why I feel I am qualified to even be discussing this. There are certain ministers out there, who are great men of God who know the Scripture far better than me, who sometimes write books and go on crusades against all Charismatic/Pentecostal/Word of Faith believers and their teachings. The only problem is that, though they have a masterful grasp of theology and the Bible, they honestly don’t know much at all about the beliefs they are condemning. With this in mind, let me briefly share a few reasons that I believe I can speak knowledgably on the subject. My knowledge on the New Age Movement and the pagan elements of Ancient Near Eastern sorcery are based on the fact that I spent many years, before getting saved, in the New Age Movement. I spent hours in New Age book stores, and reading New Age books, while I sought for spiritual truth that I didn’t think was found in Christianity. This initial personal knowledge has been built upon over the years, especially in the realm of Ancient Near Eastern beliefs, as I have studied the cultures which the biblical authors encountered and lived in. As for the Word of Faith movement, I was also a part of it myself for quite a while. I even attended RHEMA Bible Training Center, which was considered by many to be the flagship training institution for Word of Faith ministers. I even sat in the classroom under Kenneth Hagan Sr. whom many Word of Faith ministers consider their father in the faith. I have read hundreds of Word of Faith books and spent several hours a day for several years listening to Word of Faith sermons. I am not speaking of these movements as someone who has merely glanced at them from a distance, or even as someone who simply attends a Word of Faith Church and hears a weekly sermon from the pulpit, but as someone who was a part of both movements and diligently and radically pursued their teaching, and was trained to be a minster in their own flagship Bible College.

Perhaps the best place to begin is with a brief overview of how elements of Ancient Near Eastern Sorcery found their way into Christianity in the first place. As with almost every form of heresy throughout church history, it likely was not introduced with malicious intent to mislead and deceive the faithful. It was, rather, the result of well-intentioned men seeking to understand spiritual and theological issues in light of their experience and personal surroundings. Most heresy is merely a wrong or insufficient answer to a sincere question. These particular beliefs were largely introduced through the writings and ministry of a man named E. W. Kenyon. Kenyon was highly involved in the New Age movement before he was saved, and when he began to seek to understand Christian spiritual truths, he did so through the existing paradigm of New Age thought. Ultimately he ended up superimposing New Age ideas with Christianity and “Christianizing” them by changing out key terms with more Christian sounding terms like “faith” or “confession”. The result was a hybrid of classical theological terms being used to express new ideas, or rather very old pagan ideas which were new to Christian thought. Kenyon’s teachings became popular among certain ministers, such as Kenneth Hagan, Charles Capps, and Oral Roberts and over the years they built upon the foundation Kenyon had laid. As the years have rolled on these doctrines have been reinforced through a system of biblical interpretation that ignores important hermeneutical principles such as the importance of interpreting the scripture in context. Verses are plucked out of their context and held out alone, or coupled with other verses out of context, in order to give a façade of biblical support. For the sake of pseudo-brevity I will move on from this highly abbreviated history and transition into discussing three pillar tenets of Ancient Near Eastern Sorcery and how the doctrines of the Word of Faith mirror them.

One of the major sources of power for an ANE (Ancient Near Eastern) Sorcerer was the belief in a creative force which was found in all of creation. This force is what gave substance to the world and held it all together. The sorcerer could harness this creative force inside of them and release its power, through the use of ritual or spoken words, in order to create or bring about what they willed. Similarly, Word of Faith ministers teach that all believers have a creative force inside of them, which they call “faith”, and that we release the creative power of this “faith” through our spoken words. Whatever we speak and confess we create by the power of our faith. This is why, if they hear you saying negative things, they may tell you to “stop speaking those things over your life” because they believe that your words release that creative force which comes from the “faith” inside of you. It is often even taught that not only Christians have this creative force within them, but that all people possess this creative force because we are all made in God’s image. As can be seen with my example above about speaking things over your life, this creative exercise is not truly subject to God’s will, or even necessarily His direct involvement, but is entirely contingent on what you speak and create with the “faith” that is inside of you. Otherwise it would be impossible to speak anything into existence that was not God’s will. This concept of “faith” diverges greatly from the traditional and biblical concept of faith which is always rooted in the person of God and our trust and dependence upon Him. Faith is one of the most powerful forces in existence, but it is not a creative energy within us that turns us into semi-autonomous “little gods”. It is rather a trust in God which binds us together with Him in a relational manner and trusts in His faithfulness completely.

            A second, but closely related, tenet of ANE sorcery was the belief that the world was governed by natural spiritual laws. The ANE sorcerer was one who knew those laws and were able to manipulate them as a source of their power. These particular powers were not necessarily the result of any “divine or demonic act”, they were merely the recognition and manipulation of laws which were immutable. Likewise, Word of Faith teaching is built largely upon this same foundational premise. One of the most obvious manifestations, in Word of Faith theology, is in the principle of “seed faith”, though it is highly evident throughout the entire theological system. Much of the teaching of Word of Faith ministers revolves around the idea of working “God’s laws” in order to produce the desired results. The only real difference between ANE sorcery and the Word of Faith on this point is that Word of Faith ministers say the laws were established by the God of Christianity, while ANE sorcerers believed they were established by different gods or were just part of nature. In both cases the results rest, not upon dependency to God or even relationship with God, but upon the knowledge and manipulation of the natural/spiritual laws. It is certainly true that there are laws of nature and that God has established moral and spiritual laws, but they do not work the way either of the above groups teach. It should also be noted that Christianity is not based on approaching God through a legal system of manipulating spiritual laws. Christianity is not a religion of legalism, but is entirely based upon relationship. God is the sovereign maker of laws, but He is not bound by them in such a way that He is obligated to do anything just because we worked the system correctly. We are never to approach God, through Jesus, on the basis of the law.

            A third path to power in ANE sorcery was rooted in the power of a name. It was believed that if you could learn the name of a god, or spirit, or being of power, that you could invoke that name in order to move the named one to do whatever it is that you are invoking its name to accomplish. In essence, knowledge of a true name gave the practitioner a claim on the power of the being they named. We see this in the Word of Faith movement in their doctrines concerning the name of Jesus. They interpret the phrase “In Jesus name” overly literally and treat the name itself like it is some sort of magic word which releases God’s power over a situation. By not understanding the meaning of the ancient idiom of things being done “in the name of ______” they have left behind a solid Christian interpretation and ventured into a New Age influenced interpretation that is almost identical to ANE sorcery. What the phrase actually means is to do something in the character and nature of the one named, exactly how they would have done it themselves if they were there. It is a representative phrase, as opposed to an incantation.

            There are other points of convergence between the Word of Faith and Ancient Near Eastern sorcery, but these are three of the most prominent ones. Nothing in what I have written is meant to belittle the power of Faith or to undermine a belief that God moves powerfully and miraculously in the lives of believers today. God is still alive and active in the world and He still moves powerfully on the Earth through His people, as well as sovereignly by His Spirit. What we are in need of, is a theology that embraces the reality of God’s power and a believer’s authority, without crossing the line into Christian witchcraft or exalting men unduly and robbing God of glory that is rightfully His alone. Many of the doctrines of the Word of Faith tread dangerously close to idolatry in that they attribute to man that which belongs only to God. Rather than focusing on a relational foundation of faith that places all power and sovereignty in the hands of God who goes with us and works through us, it elevates man to the level of being “little gods” exercising autonomous creative power through the manipulation of spiritual laws and their own creative force of faith.

Beginning With the House of God

The Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage has generated passionate responses from millions of Americans, ranging from exuberance to rage and from exaltation to panic. There is much to be said about the ruling, and there are many possible directions the conversation could and should take. What I hope to share is not intended to invalidate or belittle the many contributions that have already been put forth. I do, however, feel that this is an important contribution to the dialogue, and that the perspective I am sharing is crucially important for the Church. This is not a political commentary concerning the Constitutionality of the ruling, or a denunciation of the society in which we live. It is rather a call to the Church, delivering a message that I believe is from the heart of God.

            One of the most common themes I witnessed on social media was the belief that this ruling would bring God’s severe judgment upon America. While I am not debating that the embracing of sin brings God’s judgment upon individuals and nations, I feel that the aforementioned declarations are in need of refinement.  Many of the voices warning of coming judgment, due to the ruling, pointed to Romans chapter 1 to support their claims. A closer look at Romans 1, however, reveals something different than the message many were sharing. Rather than saying that God’s judgment came because of the sin of homosexuality, it actually says that God’s giving men over to their lusts, and specifically to homosexuality, was itself part of the judgment of God. Look briefly at Romans 1:25-27:

25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. (NIV)

Rather than this ruling being the act that results in God’s rightful judgment on America, I believe that we see in Romans a more likely revelation that we are already under judgment, and God is simply giving us over to our own lusts and darkness. How can one look objectively at our society, and even at many of our churches, and not see how the description is fitting, that “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator”? Judgment is not coming. We, as a nation, are already under judgment.

            It is important to remember two things at this point. First, though we are under judgment, God’s long-suffering grace is still sheltering us from the fullness of His rightful wrath for the moment. Second, God’s righteous judgments are meant as correcting rebukes that lead us to repentance. There is yet hope, and this hope lies at the heart of the message that I feel God has for His Church. If we exert all our energy castigating sinners and society, we will completely miss the true heart of God and His intent in this moment. God’s word to His Church, in this season, is found in 1 Peter 4:17, “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (NIV). The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthian 5:12 and 13, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked person from among you.” (NIV). Likewise we see in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (NIV). We cannot expect those who have not been saved and liberated from sin, by the atoning work of Christ’s salvation, to live in freedom from sin or to even want to do so. It is not our place to sit in judgment upon the world, it is our place to sit in judgment upon the Church and to be a light to the world. This does not mean we are not to declare the truth of God’s law or that we are to cease to expose and warn of the dangers and sinfulness of sin. Nor does it mean that we are not to use wise discernment to know the true from the false, and to look to the fruits of men’s lives as evidence of their salvation. Those are tasks to which our Lord commands us. Removing our voice and witness from the conversation would be a grave error and a sinful desertion of those whom are perishing in their sin. We should heed the warning God gave to Ezekiel:

18 When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 19 But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself. (Ezekiel 3:18-19 NIV)

            It does mean, however, that rather than placing ourselves upon a pedestal and condemning the world while ignoring our own sin, we need to look closely at ourselves, repent when we need to, and dedicate ourselves to a lifestyle of genuine Christian character. As I said, it is unfair to expect those in bondage to sin to live up to God’s holy standard—it is, in fact, impossible for them to do so. Rather, our duty is to hold those within the Church, who have been saved and set free by the atoning work of Christ, accountable to walk according to those standards and to strive to uphold them ourselves. The most reprehensible part of the Church condemning the world for living like the world is that the Church itself is so often indistinguishable from the world. In terms Jesus once used, the salt of the earth has lost its saltiness and we have hidden our light under a bushel. It is time, now, for judgment to begin in the house of God. It is time for His people, who are called by His name, to humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, turn from our wicked ways that He might hear from Heaven and heal our land. God is calling us to be purified in both our theology—thinking about God—and our spiritual practice—right living before God. We need to allow God to purify us from any resemblance to the conditions found in Romans 1:25, “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator” (NIV).

It is imperative that we do not exchange the truth about God for a lie. This requires believers to search the Scripture and draw closer to God, so that we might see Him as He truly is, as opposed to the image we want Him to be. Romans 1 makes reference to idolatry in this context. Idolatry is not just worshipping a false god or desiring something more than God. Idolatry is also worshipping an image of God that is a false representation. When Moses was on Mt. Sinai and the Israelites worshipped the golden calf, they were not claiming to worship another god. Aaron said, “This is the God which led us out of Egypt.” The Israelites did not try to find another god, they tried to create their own image of the God who saved them, but it was not His true image. We need to examine our beliefs about God to determine whether they fit within His self-revelation given to us, or if we have simply tried to mold Him into an image we are more comfortable with. We also must study His word to learn His ways and what He expects from us. As Isaiah said, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isaiah 5:20 NIV). God is calling us to renew our minds (Romans 12:2) and to set our hearts upon Him and His ways.

The second part of the condition, from Romans 1, was worshipping and serving created things rather than the creator. This form of idolatry is evinced when we place our own desires above His desires in the way we live our lives. It is practiced when we choose to be the lords of our own lives rather than submitting our lives wholly to His lordship, and when we allow any earthly thing or person to be more important to us than our love of and obedience to God. It is also subtly evident in popular theology that focuses primarily upon the self rather than God, and primarily upon receiving blessing rather than upon serving, adoring, and exalting the One who blesses. Rather than creating sacrificial servants, it fosters a desire to receive and multiply personal gain. It removes, or ignores, the emphasis of discipleship that is the irreplaceable core of Christianity. Dealing with this condition entails the need to live righteously, serving the Creator rather than our own whims.

            Allow me to give some application in light of the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage. As important as it is to not compromise the truth or celebrate sin—as many churches are doing by abandoning God’s teachings on homosexuality—it is even more important for us to set the standard by modeling successful marriages and relationships. The hard truth is that same-sex marriage is not responsible for destroying the sanctity of marriage; that sanctity is already broken. Same-sex marriage may be taking our nation even further down the path of violating its sanctity, but the sanctity of marriage has been crumbling for decades. The sins of divorce, adultery, pre-marital sex, and having children out of wed-lock long ago shattered any illusion of sanctity in modern marriage, and a large portion of those of us in the Church are every bit as guilty as the world. If we are to regain any credibility in the discussion on marriage, we need to clean our own house first. We have often exerted enormous amounts of energy verbally testifying, when what we are ultimately called to do is to be a living testimony. Our lives and our relationships should demonstrate the holiness, happiness, goodness, peace, love, and righteousness of God’s kingdom. Christians are called to be a kingdom of priests, called out of the world to stand apart and be a beacon in the darkness. As my friend Jeff Boyer added to these thoughts, “A beacon draws to it those who are lost in darkness. There must be something attractive about the beacon, something worth coming to. If the beacon is no different than the darkness, it is no beacon at all. Why would those in darkness be drawn to something that is no different than where they are already?”

            It is time for judgment to begin with God’s household. True revival is not God pouring out His spirit to bring sinners into the Church. It is the work of His spirit reawakening the Church and bringing it back to life, resulting in a vibrant living faith that then draws in the lost. The first step to revival as described in 2 Chronicles 7 is for His people to humble themselves. We do this by acknowledging when we are in a backslidden state and falling upon His transforming mercy. Before we can influence or change society we must first be changed ourselves.

            One final word, which needs to be added, is that the heart of our message must always be love. Those who are entangled in sin may not always be able to see or acknowledge the love we have for them when we must speak a hard truth that they despise, but our hearts must be pure before God and motivated by genuine compassion. Love is concerned with the well-being of the one loved. We take our stand, not because we are angry at sinners, but because we want for them to be free and come to know the love of God that saved us when we ourselves were sinners. We know the painful consequences that come as a result of sin and we long to help them avoid that pain. Love does not give false hope or remain silent when we see our loved ones in danger. It is unwavering in its message concerning sin and the means of salvation. Yet, we must also remain humble in the knowledge that it is only by God’s grace that we are not in bondage to the same sin. Because we have discernment, we confront sin and share God’s revealed standards of divine judgment, as well as the promise of His atoning gift, that all might be saved. We do not, however, demean those in sin, or try to condemn them to Hell without hope; rather we speak the truth in order to bring conviction of sin that might lead to repentance and salvation. We must be ruled by and model true godly love that might not look like the idea of love held by much of society, but it is a higher and deeper love with the power to transform lives.