Best Way to Silence our non-Charismatic Critics

As a Charismatic Christian, I believe that ALL of the gifts of the Holy Spirit continue to this day - including the more miraculous, supernatural ones. And these Gifts will continue until the Return of Jesus, i.e. "...but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end" (1 Cor 13:10). And NO, the "perfect" coming cannot be referencing the completion of the New Testament Canon. NO ONE believed that in the early church and it was an "invented" doctrine that came into Church History much, much later. 

It seems that the critics of Charismatic Christianity are more vocal and more visible today than at any time in my Christian life. Undoubtedly, the internet in general, and Social Media more specifically are the means by which such critics have become so prolific. In the past, far fewer had any platform whatsoever, and unless they had a pulpit and/or public ministry and/or authored a book or magazine articles, they had no means to take aim at the doctrines of Charismatics. 

But today, anyone with a computer or smartphone with access to the internet can become a critic with a platform. These 'critics' could of course be Charismatic critics of the non-Charismatics, but let's face the facts; the vast majority of internet theology critics are non-Charismatic ones, most often within the Calvinist/Reformed camp. 

And these critics, who can easily be theologically untrained, can build platforms that reach tens of thousands of people, if not millions via some of the well-known platforms such as blogs, Twitter, and YouTube. 

It might surprise some of my readers to hear this, but many of their criticisms are valid. The Charismatic wing of the church has often been involved in practices and emphases that are not what the New Testament describes as evidence of the power and work of the Holy Spirit. We have chased after "distractions". We have "cheapened the currency"! Going to heaven and angelic visitations are BY DEFINITION rare occurrences Biblically. And even if one would concede, as I do, that such experiences can be expected to be on the increase as we get nearer to Christ's Return, the vast majority of what I have seen, heard, and read about from Charismatics who 'claim' such encounters to be 'normal' for them is simply NOT TRUE. This blog post is not the one where I will try to assess what I think such heavenly and/or angelic visitations are - such things can be real, they can 'imagined', they can be made-up or they can even be demonic deceptions. 

And first of all, if we want to start to silence our critics, we need to stop the pursuit of such distractions. By God's grace and His protection, I believe most of these practices end up being harmless. I know others would vehemently disagree with me on that, but I know many who have dabbled in such things through the years who haven't ended up in darkness. 

However, the main way we Charismatics can silence our ever-present critics is to be doing the things that Jesus did and His apostles. The Apostle Paul didn't show up on the Island of Malta in Acts 28 to lay everybody down and take "trips to heaven"! What did he do? He healed Publius' father and then proceed to heal everyone else on the island! Acts 28:9 tells us that "the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came [to Paul] and were cured". We Charismatics are so far from that type of ministry! Let us be honest, brutally honest. 

We love to talk and talk about signs and wonders, but all too often we don't demonstrate these signs and wonders for the people around us! Talk is cheap. 

If we actually began to see people healed, undeniable healings that could be medically documented, then I think we'd shut up many of our critics. Their theologies would actually change as they'd be forced to admit that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit they believed had ended would be being demonstrated right before their eyes. 

I'll bet a lot of the critics would welcome such a posture by us Charismatics. They have asked us to go to hospitals and see them emptied (a common sentiment they repeat). Isn't that essentially what Paul did on the Island of Malta? 

Let us rethink our approach to the Kingdom life God has called us to live! 

Let us go after the life we claim to believe is possible!

Let us be growing into ministries that actually look like Jesus' Ministry!

Let us stop declaring people healed who are not yet healed! 

Let us stop cheapening the currency with regards to angelic visitations!

Let us stop our imagined "going to heaven" sessions! 

Let us cease mimicking New-Age practices claiming them to be Christian!

AND FINALLY...

Let us watch what happens to our non-Charismatic critics as we model lives characterized by genuine healing miracles.

NOTE: Do I believe in angelic visitations? Absolutely. Do I believe that people can be "caught up" into heavenly places? Yes, I do. Is that what the Charismatics who are claiming these experiences are actually having? No. The vast majority of them are experiencing something other than really being visited by angelic beings and/or being caught up into heaven. My plea is that we STOP CHEAPENING THE CURRENCY of such things and that we START TO REVALUE THE CURRENCY of genuine, regular healings!