Over a year ago, I did a two part series in which I said that evangelicalism and fundamentalism were teeming with ecstatic and demonic influence (part one, part two). This was a major issue at Corinth, so it’s been around for a long time. After all, we do wrestle against spiritual wickedness. Confusing spirituality is a big tool of Satan. He wants people to think they’re doing fine when they’re not. They’re the ones who will say “Lord, Lord” on judgment day (Matthew 7:21-23).
John Piper was recently down speaking at Passion 2013 (you can watch the “worship” time here, definite disclaimer for the night club, but it is the worship of Passion 2013). Piper is a big favorite of evangelicals and many fundamentalists. Mark Dever, a real fav of fundamentalists as well, has pushed for men like Lecrae, the rapper here who is leading the “worship”). Does this really seem legitimate to seriously professing believers? Thousands went and said it was a real spiritual time for them. The people at Corinth also saw their ecstasy as spiritual. And it is spiritual in one way. Demonic. It isn’t the Holy Spirit, that is clear. You can judge that. Don’t be afraid to judge that.
If there is any doubt about whether Piper is a Charismatic, watch the following. It will clear it up. He doesn’t understand 1 Corinthians, for sure.
Unbelievable.
Demonic.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
Kent,
The only thing missing was the golden calf! In Calvinism, you either freeze up or burn up. Wow!
TJP
This defines New Calvinism for what it is – Neo-paganism!
WinterJam is another so-called "Christian" concert series that many local "conservative" Baptists sent their kids to. See if you can find anything remotely Christian in this video from the tours recent stop in the "Bible belt" city of Charlotte, NC.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=lCxgEfF9ssI&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DlCxgEfF9ssI
Here's the lyrics:
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Feed-The-Machine-lyrics-Red/9AAD0D4A7740DFEA482578220008E814
Blessings
John Gardner
I don't think this mess is the outcome of the Calvinism. At all. The quasi-continuationism, perhaps. The neo-revivalism, maybe. But probably a plain old failure to make no difference between the sacred and the profane, which problem Calvinism doesn't tend toward.
Sorry, here's the link to the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCxgEfF9ssI
Also, TJP,
Which did Spurgeon do? Freeze up? Burn up? What about William Carey?
d4v34x,
Let's see. Spurgeon renounced the Calvinism of his predecessor and adopted a Calvinism more compatible (though still far removed) from Scripture. He preached like an old Methodist yet clung to the rags of Geneva. Men's inconsistencies aren't new.
William Carey? He too renounced the hard Calvinism of his day either just before or just after he left for India.
As great as both men were (and they were great), they preached and taught above their theology.
To see the real fruits of Calvinism, one only needs to examine the goings-on in New England to discover the horror perpetrated upon a benighted people by the prophets of predestination. Not surprisingly, after a healthy dose of unconditional election and limited atonement, the place needed two great awakenings to shake the people out of their lethargy and deadness, and still they never really recovered. Calvinism ate their soul out.
TJP
Understanding what Paul was dealing with at Corinth must be understood from its historical context. The church at Corinth was a carnal lot. The majority of those in the church at Corinth were saved out of the pagan mystery religions (I Corinthians 12:2). These people were incorporating some of the religious practices of the pagan mystery religions with their Christianity.
“Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led” (I Corinthians 12:2).
These mystery religions all evolved out of Babylon from the occult practices of Nimrod that resulted in the building of the Tower of Babel and God’s confounding of the languages ending in the dispersal of the people into different nations (language groups). The origins of the mystery religions were demonic. The supernatural happenings of the mystery religions were demonic.
Common to the mystery religions was the practice of Ecstasism and Enthusiasm. S. Angus, in his book The Mystery Religions (New York: Dover Publications, 1975) details these two practices.
“…Ecstasy (ekstasis) and Enthusiasm (enthusiasmos), both of which might be induced by vigil and fasting, tense religious expectancy, whirling dances, physical stimuli, the contemplation of sacred objects, the effect of stirring music, inhalation of fumes, revivalistic contagion (such as happened in the church at Corinth), hallucination, suggestion, and other means belonging to the apparatus of the Mysteries.”