SPIRIT & TRUTH
Prior to his historic visit to the British Isles in 1873, the well-known 19th century evangelist, D.L. Moody, was not at all welcome in England. Local pastors hotly debated his soon arrival one night saying, "Why do we need this 'Mr. Moody'? He's uneducated, inexperienced, and worst of all - a 'Yank from America!' Who does he think he is, coming over here anyway?" One memorable objection came from an older pastor who sharply criticized him saying, "What? Does he think he has a monopoly on the Holy Spirit or something?" To this, a younger but much wiser pastor arose and responded, "No, but the Holy Spirit must have a monopoly on Mr. Moody! (Sermon)"
Moody went on to conduct some of the most powerful and impactful evangelism campaigns in modern times throughout Great Britain, which ultimately spurred the famous graduate students known as the, "Cambridge Seven", to enter the mission fields of China and other foreign lands, creating an evangelism explosion, that has rarely been seen since. Most Church historians agree that this was obviously a movement of God's Spirit, precisely because this, "Mr. Moody" was an uneducated and inexperienced man, monopolized by the Holy Spirit! Whether being a 'Yank from America' had anything to do with it is debatable.
Fast forward almost 150 years, and we find that the Bible colleges, seminaries, and schools of ministry, in America and around the world, which were originally founded with these principles in mind, and were dedicated to the education of pastors and missionaries, have in many ways, all but abandoned this crucial role which the Holy Spirit plays in the training, equipping, and work of the ministry; replacing it with dead orthodoxy and liberal theology. Concerned more with academic pursuits and attracting a lucrative wide cross-section of students, being careful not to offend or discourage any from attending their schools; these institutions have removed the Spirit, while still claiming to teach the truth!
Fast forward almost 150 years, and we find that the Bible colleges, seminaries, and schools of ministry, in America and around the world, which were originally founded with these principles in mind, and were dedicated to the education of pastors and missionaries, have in many ways, all but abandoned this crucial role which the Holy Spirit plays in the training, equipping, and work of the ministry; replacing it with dead orthodoxy and liberal theology. Concerned more with academic pursuits and attracting a lucrative wide cross-section of students, being careful not to offend or discourage any from attending their schools; these institutions have removed the Spirit, while still claiming to teach the truth!
Not only does this disturbing trend blatantly ignore the exhortation of Christ Himself who said, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in Spirit and Truth. (John 4:24)" and the Apostle Paul who chastised the Galatians saying, "Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (Gal 3:3)"; but it also opens the door for the introduction of other belief systems, in an effort to homogenize the Christian faith into an ecumenical form that is compatible with other religious thought. Educators and administrative officials may never accept this as fact publicly, and may not even realize it, but the textbooks and curricula which are being utilized in contemporary Christian education, tell a different story and preach a very different message entirely.
Students are now being encouraged to, "...explore and understand ...the many expressions of religious life around the world. ...and not to be afraid of the varieties of ways humans have worked out their longing to know the truth. (Howell 198)” This total disregard for the spiritual warnings explicit within Scripture is quite shocking to say the least! One book asks the question, “How have you tended to think about other religions?” This question of course infers that the previous thought patterns of the student were incorrect, because they go on to say that, "...viewing other religious beliefs as, spiritual battlegrounds, competing systems of truth, lies from Satan, the beliefs of most lost persons, and the mere myths of people trying to make sense of their lives... (Howell 199)”, is somehow wrong, backwards, and even unsophisticated.
This resembles the mocking tone of atheist agitators and professors, who are bent on destroying the fragile faith of what they consider, simpleton home-schooled freshmen undergrads, away from home for their first time. Their philosophic arguments on this subject border on the fringes of cultural relativism, rather than the objective soundness of biblical truth. Known today as the, anthropological approach to religious studies, Christian scholars are introducing concepts that should be sending up 'red flags' everywhere in the Church, but sadly, they're not... I could not believe my eyes one day as I read how far they were actually willing to go in order to be, “…broadly inclusive, even of traditions such as Buddhism and atheism..." In order to study man's pursuit of religious truth, they are willing to analyze, "...any conception of how the world is thought to be organized, [but not] spiritual beings… (Howell 177)”
It took a few pages for that to fully sink in, but in essence, by removing the spiritual element, (i.e. spiritual beings), from the discussion, you remove the lion’s teeth; you neuter the religious concepts to the level of mere relativistic points of view, in which no belief system is superior to another, they are just culturally evolved rituals that are of equal value and significance. To these researchers even Christian worship may be understood as a superstitious rite, practiced by naive Christians who have merely been deceived into believing that, “…true worship is not of this world; it is a transcendent experience that lifts us beyond the physical world. (Howell 190)” Yes, I’m being facetious! Remember again what Jesus said though, “…the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. (John 4:22)”
If you remove the spiritual element, you may easily say, “We need not categorically reject anthropological understandings of religion …Instead, we can use these humanistic views to help us better understand our created nature, [which] both enhance and inhibit our understandings of God. (Howell 178)” That is an incredibly frightening statement coming from a Bible college textbook! Remove the spiritual aspect of the argument and you are free to say that we shouldn’t view false religions, cults, and God-hating atheists as, “…spiritual battlegrounds, competing systems of truth, lies from Satan, and the beliefs of most lost persons…”, even though that is exactly how the Bible describes them!
Perhaps these, so-called Christian scholars have never read that, “…the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons… (1 Tim 4:1)” or that “…as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it! (2 Cor 11:3-4)”
Students are now being encouraged to, "...explore and understand ...the many expressions of religious life around the world. ...and not to be afraid of the varieties of ways humans have worked out their longing to know the truth. (Howell 198)” This total disregard for the spiritual warnings explicit within Scripture is quite shocking to say the least! One book asks the question, “How have you tended to think about other religions?” This question of course infers that the previous thought patterns of the student were incorrect, because they go on to say that, "...viewing other religious beliefs as, spiritual battlegrounds, competing systems of truth, lies from Satan, the beliefs of most lost persons, and the mere myths of people trying to make sense of their lives... (Howell 199)”, is somehow wrong, backwards, and even unsophisticated.
This resembles the mocking tone of atheist agitators and professors, who are bent on destroying the fragile faith of what they consider, simpleton home-schooled freshmen undergrads, away from home for their first time. Their philosophic arguments on this subject border on the fringes of cultural relativism, rather than the objective soundness of biblical truth. Known today as the, anthropological approach to religious studies, Christian scholars are introducing concepts that should be sending up 'red flags' everywhere in the Church, but sadly, they're not... I could not believe my eyes one day as I read how far they were actually willing to go in order to be, “…broadly inclusive, even of traditions such as Buddhism and atheism..." In order to study man's pursuit of religious truth, they are willing to analyze, "...any conception of how the world is thought to be organized, [but not] spiritual beings… (Howell 177)”
It took a few pages for that to fully sink in, but in essence, by removing the spiritual element, (i.e. spiritual beings), from the discussion, you remove the lion’s teeth; you neuter the religious concepts to the level of mere relativistic points of view, in which no belief system is superior to another, they are just culturally evolved rituals that are of equal value and significance. To these researchers even Christian worship may be understood as a superstitious rite, practiced by naive Christians who have merely been deceived into believing that, “…true worship is not of this world; it is a transcendent experience that lifts us beyond the physical world. (Howell 190)” Yes, I’m being facetious! Remember again what Jesus said though, “…the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. (John 4:22)”
If you remove the spiritual element, you may easily say, “We need not categorically reject anthropological understandings of religion …Instead, we can use these humanistic views to help us better understand our created nature, [which] both enhance and inhibit our understandings of God. (Howell 178)” That is an incredibly frightening statement coming from a Bible college textbook! Remove the spiritual aspect of the argument and you are free to say that we shouldn’t view false religions, cults, and God-hating atheists as, “…spiritual battlegrounds, competing systems of truth, lies from Satan, and the beliefs of most lost persons…”, even though that is exactly how the Bible describes them!
Perhaps these, so-called Christian scholars have never read that, “…the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons… (1 Tim 4:1)” or that “…as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it! (2 Cor 11:3-4)”
Maybe we should be viewing these educators more and more as, “…false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness… (2 Cor 11:13-15)”. The Apostle John makes it clear that we are not to, "...believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. (1 John 4:1-3)"
Yet, today we are being encouraged to set aside all spiritual discernment in order to diligently study abhorrent religious beliefs, contrary to Biblical truth. But we are instructed by the Apostle Paul to, “…be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil. (Rom 16:19)” This doesn’t even take into consideration the vast history of prohibition contained in the Old Testament, concerning the children of Israel keeping themselves pure from the idolatry of the false religious systems all around them. They were to have NOTHING AT ALL to do with those things, so why should that be any different from us?
Imagine King David saying, “Hey, I think we’ll go over to the Philistine camp today; not to fight, but to ask that we might study their practices concerning Dagon and Baal worship, just to compare and see if we can learn more about how to worship Yahweh.” Yeah, not! Ain’t gonna happen! Knowing this, I must conclude with John’s words when he said, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (1 John 5:19-21)
It is folly to believe that God will bless anything less than worshiping and serving Him in Spirit and in Truth, while separating ourselves from the corruption of the world system. This was characterized by the ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus, the early Apostles and Church Fathers, as well as D.L. Moody, and it must be characteristic of our ministries as well.
Imagine King David saying, “Hey, I think we’ll go over to the Philistine camp today; not to fight, but to ask that we might study their practices concerning Dagon and Baal worship, just to compare and see if we can learn more about how to worship Yahweh.” Yeah, not! Ain’t gonna happen! Knowing this, I must conclude with John’s words when he said, “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (1 John 5:19-21)
It is folly to believe that God will bless anything less than worshiping and serving Him in Spirit and in Truth, while separating ourselves from the corruption of the world system. This was characterized by the ministry of John the Baptist, Jesus, the early Apostles and Church Fathers, as well as D.L. Moody, and it must be characteristic of our ministries as well.
By Pastor Glen Mustian
Works Cited:
Howell, Brian. Introducing Cultural Anthropology: A Christian Perspective. Baker Publishing. NKJV New King James Version. Holy Bible. Thomas Nelson. Nashville, TN: 2000. Print.
Sermon Illustrations. http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/h/holy_spirit_infilling.htm
Sermon Illustrations. http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/h/holy_spirit_infilling.htm
