REFORMED CHARISMATIC A SITE TO GIVE A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
Reformed and Calvinist Charismatics are popping up. We affirm what Matt Chandler has stated we feel like at the convergence conference hosted by Pastor Sam Storms . We feel like Orphans at times as my two parents are at war with each other which is not really helping in opposite extremes.
We pull from Church history and ultimately the Holy Scriptures as Believers. We are fully Reformed leaning and Calvinistic many of us. And we are not apologizing for embracing what the West Minister Confession of Faith called private spirits or revelation that is to be subject to the scripture. And with this said we also do not apologize as we are apart of a Word and Spirit Revival that is spreading through God's people. Are history is rich and fascinating on this journey as Pilgrims traveling through this land as the old song goes.
So we pray Father thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven for each one of your Elect believers !!! Jesus we honor and adore you as holy, holy, holy is the Lamb !!! And Holy Spirit reveal more of Jesus and the Goodness of the message that the faithful died for and taught through out the ages Amen.
What is Reformed Theology ? These are the five pillars of the Reformed faith. Scripture alone, Christ Alone,Grace alone,Faith alone,Glory to God alone.
Explaining further in numeric order. 1.Scripture alone teaches that the Bible is infallible and sufficient for the rule of government and life . 2.Christ Alone is that salvation is exclusively by the death and resurrection of Jesus as the sole mediator to God. 3.Grace Alone is that justification and salvation is not depended on human action or condition man provides but a on the Sovereign grace of God. 4.Faith alone is our justification before God is soley based on belief in Jesus the messiah alone and not works we do 5.All glory to God is do to God alone. Man does not receive glory but honor.
Further what is being Reformed ? And what is being Calvinistic. To many Reformed is basically holding to the pillars and historic confessions of Christianity and more specifically confessions that came during the reformation periods.
What is Calvinistic ? One who believes in the five points of the what is called the TULIP . Total Depravity ,Uncontional Election,Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace,Perseverance of the Saints. Note there are believers in the Calvinist leaning camps who do not hold all five points. Some in the Reformed and Calvinist circle dog these people. Most Calvinsitic people who are not High Calvinist or Low Calvinist five pointers have issues either with the L or the P. There is credible information that John Calvin himself was not consistent on the L in limited atonement. And among the signers of different confessions Hypothetical Universalist were considered devout brethren. So let us not be Hyper Calvinistic in reaction just to distance oneself from what some call derpy theology.
Let me define the terms high and low Calvinism.
Low Calvinist = infralapsarian High Calvinist = supralapsarian
According to the infralapsarian view the order of events was as follows: God proposed,
1. to create; 2. to permit the fall; 3. to elect to eternal life and blessedness a great multitude out of this mass of fallen men, and to leave the others, as He left the Devil and the fallen angels, to suffer the just punishment of their sins; 4. to give His Son, Jesus Christ, for the redemption of the elect; and 5. to send the Holy Spirit to apply to the elect the redemption which was purchased by Christ.
According to the supralapsarian view the order of events was:
1. to elect some creatable men (that is, men who were to be created) to life and to condemn others to destruction; 2. to create; 3. to permit the fall; 4. to send Christ to redeem the elect; and 5. to send the Holy Spirit to apply this redemption to the elect
Dealing with false claims Continuist or Charismatic practicer's don't hold to sufficiency of scripture or scripture alone.Sufficiency of scripture has four legs in Reformed thinking . But before I get into that let me define what we as a movement believe as true to combat this rhetoric. And scripture alone has a great emphasis to it.
The doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture is a fundamental tenet of the faith . To say the Scriptures are sufficient means that the Bible is all we need to equip us for a life of faith and service. No other writings are necessary for this good news to be understood, nor are any other writings required to equip us for a life of faith.
When someone lays claim to sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”), he is stating that the Bible is the one-and-only rule for faith and practice, apart from tradition or any other human authority. When a person lays claim to tota Scriptura (“Scripture wholly” or “every part of Scripture”), he is saying that the entire Bible is equally inspired by God. Tota Scriptura is also called the plenary of Scripture.
Sola Scriptura, a term that came out of the reformation, has a limiting effect in that it keeps people from adding to the Bible; tota Scriptura has an enlarging effect in that it keeps people from subtracting from the Bible. Sola Scriptura and tota Scriptura balance each other to keep us focused on the 66 inspired books of the Bible, nothing more and nothing less.
Tota Scriptura emphasizes that the Bible is to be taken as a whole. The complete canon is God’s Word, and we cannot pick and choose what parts of it to accept and what parts to reject.
Dealing with the statement “the Bible is our only rule for faith and practice” . This appears in many statements of faith. Sometimes, it takes a similar form, stating that the Bible is “the final authority,” “the only infallible rule,” or “the only certain rule.” These ideas, whatever the wording, is a way for Bible-believing Christians to declare commitment to the written Word of God and their independence from other authorities.
Ok the legs of Sufficiency are ? Scripture,Reason, Tradition some later added experience. Note experience is not a Reformed or Reformational thought to my understanding. Tho some Calvinist would hold to that idea. It is a slight difference tho some would claim a big one. Some in the Continuist circles would hold to the fourth leg.
This would mean embracing Sola Scriptora is this the final authority for all matters of faith and morals because of its inspiration, authority, clarity, efficacy, and sufficiency.
Reformational and Reformed thinking in breaking it down. There is slight differences between Martin Luther and the Reformers after him. But like I said very slight differences. Some make a big deal out of this.
Inspiration's basic meaning is "God breathed" or "God breathing out " Biblical inspiration is the doctrine in that the authors of the Bible were led or influenced by God with the result that their writings .
Authority refers to the Word of God, carries the full authority of God
Clarity God's Word is freely accessible to every reader or hearer of ordinary intelligence, without requiring any education.
Efficacy Scripture is united with the power of the Holy Spirit and with it, not only demands, but also creates the acceptance of its teaching.
Sufficiency The Bible contains everything that one needs to know in order to obtain salvation and to live a Christian life.
The West minister Confession spoke of the use of "the ordinary means" (such as turning to pastors and teachers) for reaching an understanding of what is contained in Scripture and is necessary to know: Chapter 1, Section VII. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.
John Calvin views in scripture.
Calvin viewed scripture as necessary in two ways. First, he held that general revelation cannot in itself give humanity a saving knowledge of God. Although he can be known in some ways through creation he has "added the light of his Word and Order that he might make himself known unto salvation."Calvin compares Scripture to being like a pair of spectacles, that enable us to properly interpret what we see in creation: For as the aged, or those whose sight is defective, when any book, however fair, is set before them, though they perceive that there is something written, are scarcely able to make out two consecutive words, but, when aided by glasses, begin to read distinctly, so Scripture, gathering together the impressions of Deity, which, till then, lay confused in our minds, dissipates the darkness, and shows us the true God clearly. Second, Calvin held that inscripturation is necessary to avoid the errors inherent in oral transmission: For if we reflect how prone the human mind is to lapse into forgetfulness of God, how readily inclined to every kind of error, how bent every now and then on devising new and fictitious religions, it will be easy to understand how necessary it was to make such a depository of doctrine as would secure it from either perishing by the neglect, vanishing away amid the errors, or being corrupted by the presumptuous audacity of men.
Calvin viewed Scripture as being equivalent to an utterance of God given from heaven: Since no daily responses are given from heaven, and the Scriptures are the only records in which God has been pleased to consign his truth to perpetual remembrance, the full authority which they ought to possess with the faithful is not recognised, unless they are believed to have come from heaven, as directly as if God had been heard giving utterance to them. According to Calvin, Word and Spirit must always go together.Scripture gives us a saving knowledge of God, but only when its certainty is "founded on the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit." It is "foolish to attempt to prove to infidels that the Scripture is the Word of God," since this can only be known by faith. Nevertheless, he did see a place for evidences of Scripture's authority, as long it is recognised that they are secondary:
The human testimonies which go to confirm it will not be without effect, if they are used in subordination to that chief and highest proof, as secondary helps to our weakness. The "chief and highest proof" being, of course, the testimony of the Holy Spirit, though Calvin does not say that the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit is the source of this authority. John Murray has suggested that the distinction between the authority intrinsic to Scripture, and our persuasion that it is authoritative is not "as clearly formulated in Calvin as we might desire."
Calvin viewed Scripture as being both majestic and simple.According to Ford Lewis Battles, Calvin had discovered that "sublimity of style and sublimity of thought were not coterminous." Calvin believed that Scripture possesses "a divine majesty which will subdue our presumptuous opposition, and force us to do it homage." It speaks with a unified voice, and its parts make up a perfect harmony: How admirably the system of divine wisdom contained in it is arranged—how perfectly free the doctrine is from every thing that savours of earth—how beautifully it harmonises in all its parts—and how rich it is in all the other qualities which give an air of majesty to composition.
Scripture, according to Calvin, also has an "unpolished simplicity". It is not particularly eloquent, for that would detract from its message: The sublime mysteries of the kingdom of heaven have for the greater part been delivered with a contemptible meanness of words. Had they been adorned with a more splendid eloquence, the wicked might have cavilled, and alleged that this constituted all their force. But now, when an unpolished simplicity, almost bordering on rudeness, makes a deeper impression than the loftiest flights of oratory, what does it indicate if not that the Holy Scriptures are too mighty in the power of truth to need the rhetorician’s art?
So with all this stated and defined. Final thought on this is the reformers believed in private spirits . Private Spirits was tho under the authority of scripture and all we talked about. It did not add or take away from the canon of scripture or even the canon of life as some have tried to use against continuism.
Private spirits are mentioned in (WCF) 1.10. The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.
The reformers were combating Montanism and Romans Catholics .Note the reformers in practice soft continuist tho not in name. And many were soft cessationist also. But the modern Cessaitonist are hard cessationist in practice or what is practical deism. Most will not even pray for the sick or mentally ill who may have demons . I am dead serious. And all because of a fear of what ? Being a Montanist. First off Reformed Continuist and Charisamtic's are not Montanist in practice. We do not believe prophecy is equal or sufficient or carry the same weight as scripture. Nor did the prophecies even in scripture itself that were specific to indivisual's or groups. So anyone who thinks other wise has serious theological delusional gaps to deal with.
Hope this all helps many as the Lord pours out the Logos and Rhema aka General Revelation and Illumination. Paul Washer says don't let people rob you of your heritage of God's presence and Spirit in his teachings !!! This means Hyper Charismatics and Many cessationist !!!
What is the Baptism of the Holy Ghost in the view of the Reformed Charismatic movement ? Reformation era and Puritanism view of the Baptism of the Spirit (16th and 17th centuries)
A leading protestant reformer in Switzerland, taught three distinct baptisms: water baptism, teaching baptism (having been educated about the Christian religion) and Spirit baptism. This was the man named H. Zwingli's view . While full baptism included all three, Zwingli emphasized that the external baptisms of water and teaching could not provide salvation. The inner baptism of the Spirit alone could save because it conferred faith. According to Zwingli, the three baptisms could be given separately; Spirit baptism could occur first or last in the sequence .
Many Puritans believed that the experience of becoming a Christian was followed by a later and distinct experience of the Holy Spirit. This experience was characterized by receiving assurance of salvation. English Puritan Thomas Goodwin equated this experience with the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the "seal of the Spirit" referenced in Ephesians 1:13. This view was held by men such as R.A Torrey, JI Packer, D.A Carson and Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones with so many others. ; Also note this view was very open to experiences or manifestations of numerous kinds.
In the 1800's we see another view that was developing more language to the idea of a baptism in or of the Spirit. It was apart of this reformed earlier idea among certain reformed thinkers .It was being experienced among the Welsh meetings and in the Oberlin circles and it was experienced among the Holiness revivals. These views were similar to John Wesley and George Whitefield's and what was happening in Jonathan Edwards meetings in history. R.A Torrey and D.L Moody held this view a second experience or power to witness.
Later this would be the language used by Classical Pentecostal's who were impacted by the Oberlin Reformed circles and Methodist in the American context. And the language of the Welsh revivalist. Then in the modern context we see the bridge to the modern Charismatic movement and how we teach these ideas. The renewal movements or third wave. Or what is now developed into the Vineyard movement. Which out of that movement came many Calvinist Continuist or Charismatic networks over time. The third wave taught the idea of one baptism many fillings. John Wimber was a Calvinist leaning and influenced many in the modern movement.
So this is the idea among the movement . The baptism in the Spirit or to be filled is power to witness and live the life with assurance of salvation . This power may manifest many kinds of displays found in the New Testament.
The personal testimony of Timothy Ross from Grant County, Indiana in the United State of America. I was born in 1981 with a bilateral cleft lip and palate into a classic Pentecostal Evangelical home by the providence of God. My family was apart of the historic holiness revivals of the late 1800's and early 1900's that birth the Pentecostal movements around the world. At three or six month old according to my mother's journal and testimony of others. I was divinely healed or a miracle took place. This was by the ordinance and normative command of laying on of hands with oil as my parents took the scripture literally in the faith they had. What had happen was they brought me before the elders of that local assembly in Marion, Indiana. And they anointed me with oil. What happened was the soft palate grew into place. This was because I was born without a soft and hard palate. That is a fact. This was my first encounter from a human perspective with the true Divine Lord.
In 1988 while living in Tennessee in the U.S.A . the Lord revealed himself to me through many things. But specifically as a child at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis. I had a tongue flap surgery done. My palate was closed. And then a junior medical doctor over breathing treatments came in. He ignored the charts on my bed and my mother. After this happened taking a breathing treatment it collapsed everything. After all the blood lose I went into a comma state. It is stated in medical report that basically I legally died 20 minutes. They brought me back through machines. Well what happened while this state of comma and death had happened. By the way when I meditate on the happening it is as the Lord by his Spirit manifest presence happens like it is happening. Wild from the human perspective. I sensed or saw in the body or not can't say. I went to a garden place or paradise beyond comprehension. There was flowers like earth lilies, roses, wild smells from plants. You could smell frankincense , myrrh . I could eat exotic food. Play in the fields as a child. There was children we were having fun in this place of grand creation. There was a road that went to a city which I believe was the City of God. There was gates and Angels or creatures in the sky with trumpets. But I saw Jesus as he was playing with us in the fields yet he was also among the people on this road that was gold looking. This was my first encounter with the heavens.
At 12 years old the Lord called me David. It was powerful open heavens or vision while asleep. It drives me to this day as the death experience. I was questioning my faith and life with the call on my life. It 1993 I think. I was in 6th grade. I had went into a deep sleep and was in a school R.J Baskett in Gas City, Indiana. I saw a person who was a devil. And he was trying to assault or mock whatever. And all of the sudden Jesus appeared and rebuked this devil after running through this school. And then all of sudden in this time I was seeing my Dad saying take me ,take me. And then I heard a trumpet blast as loud and clear. I saw myself and my Dad reverse . And I came before the throne of Grace Jesus the mighty Lord was sitting. He had four men like beings or creature's around him. He looked me in the eyes as a sword came from somewhere and went across my shoulder's or something. And He said David. And all of the sudden I woke straight up intensely in my bedroom.
At fifteen years old I was baptized in water fully immersed in the name of Jesus after repenting of sins . This was the formula from the book of Acts. No I do not believe this is salvational to do this . But I lean in this idea personally , In the 1660 Standard Confession in the Calvinist tradition. This idea is allowed for . Jesus name baptism. Martin Luther and many others believed in Jesus name baptism as long as it was done in proper motive and understanding. So please this is just my testimony. And if this bugs you. I have also been immersed in the Triune formula . But in 1996 was when I was first fully immersed in water. What happen was went I went down in the water and came up. The presence of the Lord came over me so overwhelmingly. I was like experiencing electricity or cleansing like warmth . A total awareness of the presence of God. I was beginning to speak in unintelligible words or stammering lips. It was joy unspeakable and full of glory. Later in this Sunday night service. I was at an alter praying and went deeper into this encounter of God's perfect Love that cast out fear experience. It was this deep ,deep assurance of God in my life as we read about in many reformers and revivalist life.
Ok I could go on and on. But this was the beginnings of my testimony and just a small glimpse. If you desire to host a conference, revival, invite myself to your church to speak ?
You can contact me at [email protected] or call me at 765-664-6604 Or you can contact me through face book.