Good question...

...How should I approach friends who are heavy into the Spectacular Gifts?

Someone wrote in... I have a very dear friend who incorporates concepts like "Slain in the Spirit," "claiming victory in prayer" (I'm not totally sure if it's the same as "name it & claim it...", but it sounds like it), generally supports concepts like the Toronto Blessing, speaking in tongues, and has anointed her church with oil as a sign of reclaiming the church from Satan's influences (I believe), and believes Jesus is continually giving all believers new spiritual gifts, and that all the gifts are prevalent today as they were in the first century. She claims to have felt the Holy Spirit as a powerful physical force that "seemed to hold her back" from attending to someone who was "being slain in the spirit".

I am extremely uncomfortable with these concepts (among others). Where can I find more information in discerning truth & error? So much of her arguments seem to me to be a leap off the logic & faith spectrum, but I can't solidly build a case using the Bible alone.

There seems to me to be a propensity of certain Christians to want things to be true so badly tht they contrive "affirmations" and signs. I don't want to offend this friend, nor do I mean to be a wet towel on a fired-up Christian, yet I can't accept her experiences as reality. Please, please help.


I responded:

This is a very tricky area, as you well know...many of the descriptions and practices you give above are completly absent from the Bible, without ANY precedent in the bible...

I might suggest you check out on the links I have in the Travelogue...it mentions charismatics or something like that in the title...it has a number of good articles and resources that would help this in this confusing area...

The only piece of advice I can give otherwise: keep it simple, make sure whatever you do, you can do in FULL ASSURANCE (roman 14.5;23). If you cannot come to believe COMPLETELY in these phenomena, then those verses forbid you to do them! Keep an open heart to the people, but gently let them know (if necessary) that you are 'not that far along' in accepting that those things are scriptural...

Hope this helps and gets you started,
glenn


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