It was one of those highly disturbing documentaries. The kind that makes you cringe and question ‘What’s wrong with him?’ The kind that affects you because somehow or another you could relate and identify with it. The kind that hits a raw spot at home.
I had a lot of difficulties watching how exorcism was carried out. And it inevitably led me to harbour a lot of question on the legitimacy of this practice.
There is a particular sect in the Philippines led by Hinirang Ng Diyos. He believes that he is the one chosen by God and is a practising Roman Catholic. He has a group of followers and as part of their training, he urges them to prove their election by eating shards of glass broken off a fluorescent tube laden with mercury. He theorises that if they were indeed chosen by God, they would have no fear because they possess special powers to would leave them unscathed.
His ten year old niece is one of them. She believes that her uncle is speaking the gospel truth. She thinks that the Lord gave these instructions to her uncle and she has got to follow them if she wants to become a spiritual healer. And so she chews on the shards of glass heavily laden with mercury.
Then there is Bob Larson. A pastor of the Spiritual Freedom Church. He believes that more than fifty percent of the people are possessed by demons, and his mission to exorcise them. He first detects who those possessed by demons are by holding out a cross, as though it was some demon radar. He would then call the person up and start his exorcism by invoking the name of Christ, followed by smacking the possessed individual with a leather bound Bible, getting his entire congregation to help support him and all these are done not without a microphone and the cameras.
During his ritual, the possessed individual would start convulsing, crying and bawling. He would sometimes start vomiting. And most often than not, a petite lady would need four strong men to hold her down. When his ritual is complete, the congregation would resound in cheers. Larson would then go on about how everyone must be freed from the bondage of Satan through the power of Christ. And this is what disturbs me most.
It disturbs me greatly when preachers go round telling congregations that they are possessed, the need for exorcism, and that they have to go through some kind of deliverance ministry before they can truly experience the fullness of life realised in Christ Jesus. It also disturbs me greatly when preachers call for an altar call after an emotionally stirring message. They claim that God is speaking to them and now is the moment where the Holy Spirit is pouring out its power, now is the moment where the Spirit is moving people to repentance, and now is the moment for them to respond, otherwise the chance is gone forever. These gestures are most often couple with the musician playing some kind of music that strongly engages the emotions, coupled with strong emotive language that is often ambiguous.
It disturbs me greatly because I have experienced and been a part of it all. It disturbs me greatly because I find no biblical warrant for such actions. It disturbs me greatly because it distracts us all from what the Gospel is about.
Whenever the preacher used to speak of deliverance as normative of Christian growth and spirituality, and that unless one goes through this ritual, one cannot experience the fullness of the Christian life, a feeling of guilt overwhelms me. I felt as though I’m a lesser Christian, unable to experience the full joy of our Lord Jesus Christ, simply because I did not go for deliverance ministry. And during those altar call moments, I again felt as though I missed out on something because I failed to seize that momentous occasion when the Spirit of God was working and moving in the midst of the congregation.
I have experienced pastors telling me that they feel that God is going to work at that session, that He is going to move among the people and that we, the youth leaders, must be prepared to pray for the youths who were going to come forward. And it would be better if we could pray in tongues. We were told we had to better prepare ourselves for that session. It seemed normative that sessions at youth camp would end with a time of ‘ministry’.
I started questioning if God’s power was indeed limited to that moment in time and space. It baffled me that the Spirit would only pour out its power and blessings after the emotive message was preached. It confused me how the power of the Spirit was given a boost by the ‘anointed’ musicians. It just seemed so strange that the power of God fell only upon a few, often the pastors, and that we had to rely on them in order to experience the fullness of the Christian life. And does it mean that I’m missing out on a whole lot more because I was not prayed for during that session as I had to go round praying for others?
However, as I continued studying Scripture, I soon realised how ludicrous those claims were and that most of my fears and guilt are unfounded.
There are indeed a few occasions in the Gospel where Jesus heals people afflicted by demonic powers. And Paul did indeed meet with a slave girl who had the spirit of divination. But the question we have got to consider is whether such is normative of the Christian life. Apart from the account in Acts, did Paul write to the churches instructing them of the need to carry out exorcism and deliverance? That unless such offices be carried out, they would not be able to experience the full extent and measure of God’s grace and joy?
There is indeed an account in Acts where Peter prayed for the assembly and the Spirit of the Lord came upon them. But the question we have got to ask again is whether such is the normative of Christian experience? How else does Peter and Paul describe the work of the Spirit among God’s elect?
In Paul’s pastoral epistles to Timothy and Titus, we have got to question why is it that if exorcism and deliverance, as it is carried out today, is indeed normative of Christian experience, why did Paul not exhort his spiritual children and elders of the Church of Christ to carry out such offices? Why did Paul not exhort them to gather the assemblies en masse and capture that moment in time when Spirit was moving and ready to pour out God’s power in the fullest measure? Why did Paul not remind them that if they had missed out on that auspicious hour, those Christian will never be able to experience the full measure of God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness and joy?
I find it extremely disturbing that many Christian these days centre in on a few events in the Bible and stretch it out to be the normative of Christian life. They throw out this blanket of guilt that unless you have experienced one of those encounters, you can never experience the fullness of life in Christ.
A couple of months ago, I met a lady from my previous church. She asked me where I currently was. I told her I’ve since moved to another church and I’m very contented because there is a very strong emphasis on the Word and the preaching is very biblical.
She said that it was good and important that the church place an emphasis on the Word, and then came the ‘but’. The ‘but’ that suggested that there was another clause, another qualification that mattered. The ‘but’ was the power of the Spirit.
Not wanting to jump to conclusion or stereotyping what people meant when they mention ‘Spirit’, though I very much guess it has something to do with hypercharismatic manifestations, I listened to what she had to say. She started talking about tongues. How I must pray in tongues in order to exercise the power of the Spirit. And then she went on about Peter’s vision as a qualification for her claim about tongues. I still do not get how it relates to tongues. I do not understand how Peter’s vision in Acts 10 relates to the manifestation of tongues.
When she finally stopped, I started to ask her if tongues was the only manifestation of the Spirit’s power. She paused, and then she went on to healing and Reinhard Bonkke. She finally came to a stop. And then I asked her if those are the only ways by which the Spirit of God manifests its power. She remained silent.
I then asked her why is it that Paul only mentions tongues in his first epistle to the church in Corinth, and only the first. And if tongues is indeed normative of the Spirit’s work and the life of Christians, should not Paul then address his people with the mention of tongues? How he heard of them speaking in tongues? How he is encouraged by their practice of tongues? How he is sure of the Spirit working among them because he knows that they are practising tongues?
Rather than making mention of tongues, Paul actually speaks of their hope, faith and love. When Paul wrote of the Spirit’s work, he wrote about unity among believers being a work of the Spirit, walking in righteousness being a work of the Spirit, conviction of sin being a work of the Spirit, love among believers being a work of the Spirit, sanctification of believers being a work of the Spirit, preaching of the Gospel being a work of the Spirit, transformation of lives being a work of the Spirit.
Rather than speaking of ministry in terms or exorcism, deliverance or altar calls, Paul reminds his protégés that they are to guard the purity of the Gospel, to teach sound doctrine, reminding them of qualification of the elders and deacons, and the threats of false teacher and prophets amongst their midst.
Rather than exhorting members of the church to go for deliverance ministry, Paul reminds them of what Christ has done. He speaks of the victory that is wrought at the Cross and the blessings appropriated to us by faith, which is a gift of God. He reminds them that the cosmic battle between God and Satan is already won by Christ. He reminds them about the sinful and hopeless nature they were in before they were in Christ. He then goes on to exhort them unto holy living as a response to the grace found in Christ Jesus. Of how the Spirit works among and in them to bring them into conformity of Christ. And that the spiritual bondage they once were in is broken off by Christ on the Cross, and not by some ritualistic practice we see today.
Rather than speaking of what we often hear in church today, Paul never fails to remind his brethren of the depths of God’s grace and the appropriate response to so deep a grace.
Perhaps it is about time we look at what is important. If tongues, deliverance, exorcisms, altar calls and ministry en masse are indeed normative of biblical Christianity, the question we have to ask ourselves is why is there little mention, and often non, in Scripture? If it is indeed of utmost importance that we go through those ritualistic and emotional experiences before we can fully appropriate the fullness of life in Christ, why is it that the Apostles make little mention to such practices which contemporary Christianity make much of today?
Perhaps by preoccupying ourselves with those practices, we have lost sight of what God is indeed revealing to us in the Scriptures. Perhaps by tuning our ‘spiritual ears’ to the subjective impressions of the Spirit, we have inadvertently filtered out what the objective revelations of the Spirit in the Scriptures.
Perhaps by obsessing ourselves with demon possession and spiritual bondages, we have really fallen prey to the devil’s attack and are in a standstill in the work and progress of the Gospel. Simply because we have become too caught up with our subjective impressions, fighting the demons that live within us, and others, forever perceiving that we need that moment of ministry after the service in order to be liberated to experience the fullness of life promised in Christ. And in doing so, we forget about the richness of His grace, His power, love and glory displayed when justice and mercy met at the Cross, the movement and work of the Spirit in renewing our minds, subjecting us as one under and in Christ and the transformation of our natures into the conformity of His glorious Son.
Perhaps it is about time we stop blanketing others with that blanket of guilt, that unless they respond to the emotive ambiguous language coupled, with the sentimental and moving background music, they can’t experience the fullness of life found in Christ, simply because it is not true.
The God I believe in, whom is revealed to me in the Scriptures, is a God of eternity. My chains and bondages with the dark world was already broken on the Cross at Calvary, where the penalty of my sin was paid forth by the atoning death of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. My God is a God who is constantly at work. His Spirit moves within me by the moment, sanctifying me and making me conform into the image of my Lord Jesus Christ. His Spirit is not bound by season or moments in time, and He acts according to the sovereign will of the Father. The power of His might is not bound by the apparent manifestations that are deemed dramatic by men, but His power and might is expressed when He convicts me of my sin and empowers me to walk in the grace and righteousness of my Lord Jesus Christ, bringing glory to the Father.
There is indeed a battle of cosmic proportions that is being fought. And when we choose to lift our eyes from the Cross and His glory, making much of what is little, or not, mentioned in the Scriptures, and making light of what the Apostles remind time after time, we have lost sight of what is important. We have become that soldier, who in the midst of a battle, stooped down to polish his boots, because he has found a speck of mud on it, while the rest of his comrades are arduously fighting the true battle. Indeed he has lost sight of it all, because he is not fighting the true battle, choosing only to fight the demons within him, ignoring the true battle the Lord has called him to.
