By Reverend Mark Hunnemann
"During most of
the history of Christianity, doctrine, piety, and ethics have gone hand in
hand." (Harold OJ Brown, 'Heresies', pg. 433)
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of
His might." (Ephesians 6:10)
I have said on numerous occasions that "virtually all
paranormal activity is demonic in nature".
Next time I want to explore this in-depth--clarifying what I mean and do
NOT mean by this assessment. What about angels? And what kind of paranormal
activity am I referring to? Next week...
This week, I want to discuss what true spirituality is.
Francis Schaeffer wrote a marvelous book entitled True Spirituality, but
this will not be a re-hash of the contents of his book, as superb as it is.
Rather, I was convicted by how much modern evangelicalism has embraced a
deficient, one-dimensional view of what it means to be a balanced Christian. Dr
Brown's monumental analysis of heresies helped to clarify the basic issues.
True spirituality is defined, not by us, but by the bible.
And the bible likens a healthy or balanced faith to a three-legged stool. It
actually does not use that analogy, but the three-fold nature of biblical
Christianity is found from Genesis to Revelation. With a three-legged stool, if
any of the legs are missing or are weak, then it will be unsteady at best, and
a disaster waiting to happen, at worst. The three "legs" of true
spirituality are: biblical truth or doctrine, existential (moment-by-moment)
piety--abiding in Christ or personal communion with Him, and ethics.(individual
and social). In the last 2,000 years of church history, various
"legs" have been emphasized at times, often to the neglect of one or
both of the other "legs". Nevertheless, as Brown points out,"During
most of the history of Christianity, doctrine, piety, and ethics have gone hand
in hand." (Brown, Heresies) So, he spells out the three legs of
true spirituality.
What does all this have to do with a biblical worldview
analysis of the occullt and necromancy? A lot actually. Think about it--if
being a faithful Christian only (or mainly) entails concern about me as an
individual...MY salvation...MY sanctification...MY experience with Jesus, then
concern for culture and society is lost. Indeed, there are Christian leaders
today who think precisely that--they liken concern for issues like abortion,
racism, and the occult as re-arranging the lounge chairs on the Titanic!
"The world belongs to Satan and is going to hell anyway, so why worry
about it? Just preach the simple gospel, and be simple Christians." It may
not be stated so explicitly, but most evangelicals ascribe to this pietistic
mentality of radical individualism, and the results are disastrous...leaving us
with a one-legged stool.
1.
The first leg of true spirituality is that of doctrine.
Due to a confluence of issues in addition to pietism, there has never been a
time in the history of the church where concern for solid orthodoxy has been
weaker than it is today. Let me try to be more positive in how I state this--if
you wish to make your life count maximally for the Lord, then you need to place
a premium on theological/biblical truth. My dear friends, have we not been
commanded to "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the
saints. (Jude 3)? Then biblical truth should be like fire in our bones!
Theologians, Protestant and Catholic, have fallen prey to
the notion of "progress", instead of faithfulness to a body of truth
that has been delivered to us. Preachers (with some notable exceptions) have
lost a passion for rich expository preaching.
On an old bulletin from the church I used to pastor--dated
1990,-there is the following quote at the top, "To worship is to quicken
the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God,
to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of
God.." (William Temple) Do you see how all of those are directly related
to our understanding of the whole counsel of God?
If you were to ask me what I thought the greatest need of
the church is today, I would not hesitate to say that our most urgent need is a
deeper understanding of the holiness of God the Father. That would have a
domino effect, including a deeper spirituality.
Spiritual warfare is first a truth encounter, and then it is
a power encounter, not vice versa..It has been said that American Christianity
today is 3,000 miles wide and a half an inch deep....many millions profess
Christ, but their doctrinal leg is weak or missing altogether.. Let us recover
a passion for truth. Indeed, Jesus is the Truth.
People were burned and drowned for heresy in the past, and
that is utterly reprehensible. However, they did understand something vital,
which we have largely forgotten--heresy (serious doctrinal error) has a
corrupting effect on culture, as well as on individuals.
2.
Personal piety is the second leg. This aspect gets most
attention today. It is fruitless to argue which leg is most important, but
certainly a personal, moment-by-moment walk with Christ is the essence of eternal
life (which begins the instant one is saved..see John 17:1ff) The bible is
emphatic that at the heart of true spirituality is a deep love for the Lord.
Indeed, that is our purpose in life--the greatest commandment--to love God with
all of our being. When it comes to our basic purpose in life, there is no
variation from person to person--ALL of us are called to a love relationship
with the Lord, which takes primacy over all other loves.
Few things are uglier, both to God and a watching world,
than a dead orthodoxy. The Reformation of the 1,500's was a recovery of the
centrality of the God of grace, and the grace of God.....the gospel. Oddly,
perhaps the greatest hindrance to deep devotion FOR God is ministry/service TO
God. But how can pastors--or how can we--expect to have victory over Satan if
we are not strong in Him? John 15 reminds us that we can do nothing apart from
our existential communion with Jesus. Let us resolve to awaken each day with a
holy passion of relishing and delighting in our love for the Lord, and His love
for us.
3.
Ethics is the third leg. Harold OJ Brown points out in
some detail how early Pietism (1,700's) devolved from a concern for individual
and society, to just the concerns of the individual. Wherever the devil is
attacking our culture, the church is supposed to be the first and last bastion
of defense...as salt and light. The last leg in our three-legged stool of true
spirituality is a passion for applying the gospel to the needs of our
generation. But when preachers, as taught in seminary, see their primary
calling as making the gospel relevant to the felt needs of the individual, then
the ethical leg is severed.
In his last book The Great Evangelical Disaster,
published in 1984, Francis Schaeffer pleads with Christians (especially
leaders) to confront evil and error. He lamented that, as a whole (with notable
exceptions), we were not confronting "the spirit of the age", and by
default, we were accommodating the growth of evil and error. Hence, our culture
was unraveling right before our eyes. Sadly, what Schaeffer said back in 1984
(selfish, individualistic pietism), has become even more ensconced in our
culture in 2014. True spirituality, one that is biblically balanced and
pleasing to the Lord, will confront the issues facing our generation. It
saddens me that the historic stance of Christianity towards necromancy, has
changed so radically in such a short time.So, where are the sermons on the
paradigm shift to occultism? Abortion? When I took homiletics (preaching) in
seminary, we were taught to do two things--work hard to be faithful to the true
meaning of the text, and to work equally hard on sensitively applying the
unchanging truth to the changing needs of our generation...wherever the devil
is attacking, we are to attack!
Please search your own heart to see which leg of the 3
legged stool which you need to attend to. The Lord bless you and keep you. Mark
"Seeing Ghosts through God's Eyes" (also in a Kindle edition)...please consider purchasing my book which uses science, logic, and the bible to analyze the true source of power behind paranormal activity.
