Canada, 1993-94
When the
movie “The Lion King” was released, it became an instant hit, and no wonder. It
was beautiful in animation, giving a popular story with great music. Yet, as I
was studying and teaching about cultural trends at the time, I saw it as a
grand strategy to promote a pantheistic worldview. It seemed to me that we were being told that
the age of reckless hedonism (“There is no environmental problem”) was over.
Through shaman Rafiki, we heard the warning of the ancestor’s spirit to take
responsibility for the state of the planet.
In the same year I read that native tribes of the Amazon should be seen
as “keepers of the flame”. In their harmonious
co-existence with the natural and spiritual world they set an example for humankind
today, as we have all but destroyed our common living space. I shared my concerns about the movie with some
colleagues at the Christian high school where I taught at the time. I got little support; one colleague thought I
was suffering from a conspiracy syndrome, and the music teacher had her choir
sing the Lion King’s theme song, “The Circle of Life”.
A year
earlier, the Alberta government sponsored magazine “Environment Views” had a
special issue about religion & environment. The lead article suggested that
the church should do what Jesus had done for Jewish culture, and turn it around
in a new direction to heal ourselves and our planet. The first paragraph of the article decried
the fact that one Christian pastor had complained about a recent Edmonton ecumenical
religious service (on World Environment Day), where all religious leaders were invited
to unite in positive thoughts and prayers for the wellbeing of Mother Earth.
The pastor had protested that public funds were used to promote
neo-paganism. The author expressed his
amazement how Christian leaders of today can still be so stubborn not to unite
with “other traditions” and how they still “fail to recognize the legitimacy of
earth-based spirituality”.
The
Netherlands, 2002?
Meanwhile,
one of my own sisters had become a true disciple of the New Age. She learned about spiritual powers and she
consulted with spirits of ancestors and animals. One time, she wrote to the whole
family that we should understand the Bible from the ‘proper’ perspective. The
ascended Jesus had recently spoken through medium Kim (Michaels?), lamenting that
the church had never really understood his message! We were never meant to separate ourselves
from other religions, and we were supposed to discover the god-spirit inside
ourselves! I took the trouble to study “Jesus’
new revelation” and discovered that Kim’s Jesus made no mention of a sacrificial
death on the cross. The death and
resurrection of our Lord, always at the heart of the Gospel, was not even
mentioned by this ‘ascended Jesus’! How
could any serious Christian with a love for God’s Word believe such nonsense?
Toronto,
1998
After my job
at the Christian high school was terminated, I took summer courses Biblical
Greek in Toronto. I was one of two senior
students in the course. The other one
was Tony, a Pentecostal brother who was just retired from the Toronto police
force. During the first week of the
course it was pretty quiet on campus, but by the second week more courses had
started, so lunch time chapel meetings were held. These would start with Praise & Worship
music, and then –after prayer- one of the teachers/professors would deliver a message. I remember standing beside Tony at the first
chapel meeting. I felt like one of God’s chosen frozen, while Tony’s whole body
was engaged in worship. So, I was
determined to loosen up and more fully participate in Praise & Worship.
The next
day, however, as my body started to move with the music, I noticed that Tony
was standing still. Well, I thought, perhaps he has a bad day or stomach cramps
or something. When it was time for the
message, a young woman came to the stage; apparently she taught a course in
contemporary worship styles. She told us a story… There once was a girl in Africa
with some kind of problem. I think she
was rejected by her village, I don’t quite remember. But, as she stood at the
river, the heavens opened and a voice spoke to her, telling her that she was
special. She should look for the (divine) power within herself! As she returned to the village, everybody
realized that she had changed… I was
amazed, shocked! When I looked around, I
noticed that a senior Presbyterian pastor was just leaving the room. I looked at Tony; he was shaking his
head. What was a New Age prophet doing
here, at a Christian seminary? And why
was she accepted to teach the church leaders about worship? Tony was just as upset, and he said, “As soon
as I entered the room today, I knew a bad spirit was present!” Tony and I tried to talk to the seminary
leaders and to some students, but we got no support. Either, they could not or would not see any
danger in what was happening! (In our
church -where I was just placed under discipline- they would preach from the
pulpit that Pentecostals are not Christians. Yet, Tony had a spirit of
discernment that I lacked. I had to hear the message before I realized the
presence of the enemy!)
During the
nineties, the city of Toronto was also the location for an amazing new
phenomenon, initially called “The Toronto Blessing”. The events associated with the TB were sensational
and controversial. Certain people
reportedly had spiritual powers, so that anybody they touched lost (partial)
control over their bodies, falling down, hysterically laughing, barking like a
dog, etc. Many people said that it felt liberating
and empowering, while others criticized the events, claiming that people who
were so touched by “the Spirit” were not changed in any biblical way of repentance
and devotion towards God. Others noted
that very similar experiences were never reported in the Bible, while they did
exist in ancient demonic practices. The common teaching in Toronto seemed to
be, “Don’t pray so much. Rather, empty yourself, and let ‘the Spirit’ fill
you. Don’t try to understand it, just
surrender body and mind to the experience!”
Recent converts from Eastern religions and New Age seem to be unanimous in
their assertion that the bodily reactions are the same as used in ancient
eastern paganism (and the New Age)*.
South China,
2008
After
starting a small church plant, we met a group of young Chinese professionals
who lived at Buddha Mountain. After worshipping
with us for some months, they expressed a desire to start a ministry in their
own city. One of them, Maureen**, told
us that she had studied at a Bible college in Florida. Apparently they could not find a house church
in their city with 6 million people, so we encouraged them to start a worship
group. We visited them on a monthly
basis to offer teaching and advice, but almost a year later we noticed strange
reactions from the group. They kept
making comment about my length, and then they shared their excitement: Jack,
whom we had baptized earlier, had grown a whole inch in answer to their
prayers! I was surprised and tried to
point out that their focus was wrong: It does not matter how tall our bodies
are; God wants us to grow spiritually!
The leader insisted that I should not discourage these young Christians.
This was part of the course (supplied by the Florida church where she had
studied), and in this way, they learned to realize the power of prayer! We were not convinced, so later we had another
meeting with the leaders, voicing our concerns.
Unfortunately, they were determined to continue on their path. Three or four years later, that church group collapsed.
A righteous remnant joined another house group, where the preaching appears to
be sound. Last year we met Maureen on the bus; she did not want to talk with
us.
Florida
Where did
this excitement in answered prayer and this failure to build the church originate?
It was only recently that I have learned the background. Interestingly, “the Florida Phenomenon” (as I
shall call it here) has strong links with the Toronto Blessing! And, despite of serious criticism from
reliable sources, the TB’s kind of experiences are gaining popularity in all
nations and denominations! While the
movement is growing, most people who have become excited about these
manifestations have refused to test these with the Bible. After I shared some criticism on Facebook,
several close Christian friends from various nations and denominations
responded like this, “Look how much good these churches are doing, how dare you
say something critical about them?”
Dazzled by the massive impact and intrigued by their personal
experiences, Christians all over the world have lost all spiritual discernment
and refuse to test the spirits at work, to see whether or not they are from
God!
What is ‘good’
in the sight of God? And, did not all oppressive utopia movements start with a
display of ‘good things’? Study how
Hitler or Mao got to power (giving the masses what they wanted), and how people
learned to accept such men as gods, even when the massacre began! In one more post I hope to examine the teaching
behind the Florida Phenomenon.
*http://web.archive.org/web/20050309020450/http://www.niksula.cs.hut.fi/~ahuima/toronto/kundalini.html
**not her
real name
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