“God has given to us a spirit of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).
In the typical Charismatic setting, gibberish tongue praying often contradicts the rational mind. Therefore, it must be personally “experienced” first before it can be secondarily understood, appreciated and verified.
This is because both “faith” and “reason” are often incompatible and contradictory (other examples are seed-faith giving, denying bodily symptoms in faith healing, and positive word-faith confession that calls things that are not as though they were).
Due to the Fall of man in Genesis 3, the mind of man is hostile to God and refuses to submit to God, therefore, it is imperative for the mind to be bypassed. We’re told by the Charismatics that Christians are not to be governed by logic or reason (cf. Isa. 55:7-8; Rom. 8:5-8; 1 Cor. 1:19-20; 2:7-16; Col. 2:8). Therefore, to reach man’s spirit, God must bypass his head/mind along the way (For more info on this see Kenneth Copeland, “The Force of Faith” [Fort Worth, Texas: Kenneth Copeland Publications, 1993], pp. 10-11.)
While it is true that there are things about God, His purposes and ways, we cannot understand fully with our mind, God never bypasses the mind and asks us to accept an experience that cannot be verified by the Scriptures. When we are asked by the Lord to walk by faith, then the experiences and results always corresponds to the Word, never against it.
In bypassing the mind in favor of an experience, we also bypass the Word in favor of acceptance. Both are seriously wrong.
When Paul wrote to the carnal Corinthians in order to correct them concerning their use and abuse of spiritual gifts (tongues being among them), he began by saying to them: “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant” (1 Cor. 12:1).
Right from the outset, Paul appeals to their understanding. In other words, what I am about to teach you in the next few chapters will involve your mind.
While it is true that there are experiences in the Christian life that God wants us to enjoy, such experiences can only be verified to be true or false based on the Word. To verify my experience, I must come to God and His Word in full submission of my mind to the Word, using it to ascertain the truth, while depending on God to guide and illumine me along the way.
Kenneth Copeland’s teachings on experiencing the Baptism of the Spirit and the subsequent praying in tongues, thus bypassing one’s mind is nothing short of heresy.
Christians ought to be keenly aware of those who tell them to do such things. You cannot fulfill the first commandment of God by only loving him with all your heart, will and soul. You must also include your mind (understanding).
Listen, if the Christian life is made up of a series of experiences thus bypassing the mind, then set aside the Word of God and live for such experiences. After all, this is the outcome of bypassing the mind.
We know that will simply not do.
Folks, think about it. If you wanted to deceive lots of people and get them to rely on something other than God and do things contrary to the Word, wouldn’t it entail bypassing a person’s mind so that they would not question anything or use their God given spiritual discernment? That’s deception!
Remember that in the Bible both the “heart” and “mind” are closely linked. Jesus said, “For out of the HEART come evil THOUGHTS. . .” (Matt. 15:19).
In the verse above it, Jesus said, “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the HEART” (v. 18). What is in the heart? A person’s thoughts.
So if your mouth speaks gibberish while praying, then what does that tell you about what’s in your heart / mind? Your mouth can only spill forth what it has in your heart-mind.
Thus, when you fill your heart with good things, it will also spill over into the mind and come out of the mouth so that you will understand what you are saying and others are edified. When you fill your mind with good things, it will also spill over into your heart. God never ever tells us to fill out heart apart from our mind nor our mind apart from out heart.
The Bible says this: “For God did not give us a spirit of fear (timidity), but a spirit of power, of love and a sound mind (discipline)” (2 Tim. 1:7).
The words “sound mind,” also translated in some versions as “discipline” or “self-control,” is only used here in the Greek. It means, “to call one to his senses.”
It carries the force of not allowing your emotions to take control. The mind keeps you in check, self-control and discipline. Without your mind overseeing your passions and emotions, you can easily swerve off into an out of control series of actions.
This spirit of control and discipline of the mind is what the Bible says, God has given “to us.” Not the opposite.
Again, anyone who teaches you to bypass your mind in order to gain an experience is leading you astray.
Judge from the Word carefully, prayerfully and thoughtfully, your experiences.
In the end, it is not about having a feeling or an experience. It is about what is true and right.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
My Way vs God's Way
“Than you no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding” (Eph. 4:17-18)
When Jesus said, “Don’t use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do,” (Matt. 6:7), He was referring to the content of their praying.
Think with me for a moment. Do you know of anywhere in the Bible, where Christians are encouraged or commanded to empty their minds? We are told to “renew” our minds (Rom. 12:2), and of course this occurs when we stop being conformed to the pattern of the world, and flush out the bad thoughts with godly thoughts from the Word itself. Renewing is hardly an endorsement to empty our minds.
Over in the Book of Philippians, Paul told the saints there that whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, good repute. . .let your mind think on these things (Philip. 4:8).
God desires for His people to fill their minds with His Word. Our minds are flushed when we replace the old with the new. But that’s the key. Whatever bad things you jettison from your mind, you always replace it with truth from God. We are never ever to worship, serve or function on an empty mind, nor are we told to be emptying our minds.
Therefore, knowing this, I am going to be very discerning not to engage in a practice that encourages the emptying of my mind.
Praying in a gibberish tongue does exactly that. Because it is nonsensical, rather than filling my mind with wholesome words by my praying, I am only emptying it.
Note: Turn things around. What if the Holy Spirit were to do that to us? Since we feel confident to pray to God in gibberish, what if God answers us back the same way? Fair is fair!
If you were to participate in a yoga class operated by a believer, and you were told to sit down with your legs crossed, arms to the side, chin up and eyes closed and then hum for a few minutes only thinking of the sound of your voice, nothing else, would you? I sincerely hope not.
But for the sake of argument, let’s say you did that. You took deep breaths, hummed with your eyes close, meditating on the sound of your voice, how do you think you would feel after doing this for a couple of minutes?
You would feel good, refreshed, more relaxed and at peace. What did you put in your mind? Nothing. You said nothing, thought nothing. All you did was zero in on the sound of your voice. In fact, you may have liked it so much that you may had to catch yourself dozing off because it was so relaxing to empty your mind of the hustle and bustle of life.
You walked away from doing this with a positive experience. Therefore, you conclude, meditating the way it is taught in yoga is good for me. I gained a positive experience from it.
Now let’s say you were told to do the same thing, but this time you are told to think about things that are true, good, lovely, right and pure. In essence, think about Jesus Himself.
How would you feel after a couple of minutes? You would probably have the same positive experience. The only exception, this time rather than emptying your mind and feeling good about it, you filled your mind with good thoughts that pushed out the bad thoughts, and felt good having the confidence that you were doing what the Bible teaches. In other words, you chose to gain the same experience God’s way.
When I prayed in a tongue, I felt good inside and believed that I was drawing closer to God. I don’t know what I was saying, but I do know what I was feeling.
But then, I also realized that I got the same feeling praying with the understanding of my mind. When I prayed to God and understood the words I was saying, I would go away with the same feeling, but this time with the confidence that I was doing it God’s way. After all, I knew enough of the Word to know that God never ever tells me to empty my mind. He wants me to purify it with His Word. Memorizing Scriptures and meditating on the Word are nuts and bolts of discipleship.
Since Jesus said in Matthew 6:7, not to pray as the Gentiles do using meaningless repetition, which does nothing for a person’s mind except empty it, I found it also interesting that we are told over in Ephesians 4:17, that “we are to no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind.”
The word, “futility” means, “empty” or “useless.” Why? What is wrong with an empty mind? It feels so good to just flush it now and then.
If you empty your mind and not replace the space with Scripture, then the results are – “being darkened in your understanding” (v. 18).
An empty mind is a dark and useless mind. It will bring you some positive results, but you will get such things not the way God intended. Does it matter that we do things God’s way?
Being led also by the Holy Spirit, Paul said, “What then is the outcome? I shall pray with the spirit and I shall pray with the mind also” (1 Cor. 14:15).
In other words, Paul says, I will do both at the same time. I shall pray with the passion of the spirit as well as pray with the understanding of the mind. Keeping in thought the principle set forth in the Bible, that I shall never empty my mind in order to gain a positive experience. To do so would only mean that I was more concerned to choose to satisfy the desires of my flesh, and do things my way and not God's way.
When Jesus said, “Don’t use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do,” (Matt. 6:7), He was referring to the content of their praying.
Think with me for a moment. Do you know of anywhere in the Bible, where Christians are encouraged or commanded to empty their minds? We are told to “renew” our minds (Rom. 12:2), and of course this occurs when we stop being conformed to the pattern of the world, and flush out the bad thoughts with godly thoughts from the Word itself. Renewing is hardly an endorsement to empty our minds.
Over in the Book of Philippians, Paul told the saints there that whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, good repute. . .let your mind think on these things (Philip. 4:8).
God desires for His people to fill their minds with His Word. Our minds are flushed when we replace the old with the new. But that’s the key. Whatever bad things you jettison from your mind, you always replace it with truth from God. We are never ever to worship, serve or function on an empty mind, nor are we told to be emptying our minds.
Therefore, knowing this, I am going to be very discerning not to engage in a practice that encourages the emptying of my mind.
Praying in a gibberish tongue does exactly that. Because it is nonsensical, rather than filling my mind with wholesome words by my praying, I am only emptying it.
Note: Turn things around. What if the Holy Spirit were to do that to us? Since we feel confident to pray to God in gibberish, what if God answers us back the same way? Fair is fair!
If you were to participate in a yoga class operated by a believer, and you were told to sit down with your legs crossed, arms to the side, chin up and eyes closed and then hum for a few minutes only thinking of the sound of your voice, nothing else, would you? I sincerely hope not.
But for the sake of argument, let’s say you did that. You took deep breaths, hummed with your eyes close, meditating on the sound of your voice, how do you think you would feel after doing this for a couple of minutes?
You would feel good, refreshed, more relaxed and at peace. What did you put in your mind? Nothing. You said nothing, thought nothing. All you did was zero in on the sound of your voice. In fact, you may have liked it so much that you may had to catch yourself dozing off because it was so relaxing to empty your mind of the hustle and bustle of life.
You walked away from doing this with a positive experience. Therefore, you conclude, meditating the way it is taught in yoga is good for me. I gained a positive experience from it.
Now let’s say you were told to do the same thing, but this time you are told to think about things that are true, good, lovely, right and pure. In essence, think about Jesus Himself.
How would you feel after a couple of minutes? You would probably have the same positive experience. The only exception, this time rather than emptying your mind and feeling good about it, you filled your mind with good thoughts that pushed out the bad thoughts, and felt good having the confidence that you were doing what the Bible teaches. In other words, you chose to gain the same experience God’s way.
When I prayed in a tongue, I felt good inside and believed that I was drawing closer to God. I don’t know what I was saying, but I do know what I was feeling.
But then, I also realized that I got the same feeling praying with the understanding of my mind. When I prayed to God and understood the words I was saying, I would go away with the same feeling, but this time with the confidence that I was doing it God’s way. After all, I knew enough of the Word to know that God never ever tells me to empty my mind. He wants me to purify it with His Word. Memorizing Scriptures and meditating on the Word are nuts and bolts of discipleship.
Since Jesus said in Matthew 6:7, not to pray as the Gentiles do using meaningless repetition, which does nothing for a person’s mind except empty it, I found it also interesting that we are told over in Ephesians 4:17, that “we are to no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind.”
The word, “futility” means, “empty” or “useless.” Why? What is wrong with an empty mind? It feels so good to just flush it now and then.
If you empty your mind and not replace the space with Scripture, then the results are – “being darkened in your understanding” (v. 18).
An empty mind is a dark and useless mind. It will bring you some positive results, but you will get such things not the way God intended. Does it matter that we do things God’s way?
Being led also by the Holy Spirit, Paul said, “What then is the outcome? I shall pray with the spirit and I shall pray with the mind also” (1 Cor. 14:15).
In other words, Paul says, I will do both at the same time. I shall pray with the passion of the spirit as well as pray with the understanding of the mind. Keeping in thought the principle set forth in the Bible, that I shall never empty my mind in order to gain a positive experience. To do so would only mean that I was more concerned to choose to satisfy the desires of my flesh, and do things my way and not God's way.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)