Part 3 of the Orthodoxy
and the Religion of the Future book review is the most polarizing. For some
readers of this blog, the next few paragraphs will be the last they read of
this blog. Christ lost many followers along
his way, and I don’t expect to always keep everyone, because sometimes, the
truth is too difficult to handle and as the parable says, the weeds grow up and
choke the seeds.
Today’s blog will be
about the Revival of Charlatans. More specifically the likes of Kenneth
Copeland, Joyce Meyers, Benny Hinn, and others. This blog will be looking at
the phenomenon of speaking in tongues and not only giving you the truth as
presented by Father Seraphim Rose in his book, but also the truth as it has
been handed down to us for 2000 years. Yes, the words will sting for those
under the deception. Yes, the words might come as a shock to most people, but I
pray that I might not be harsh in my words, but bold. Speaking clearly and distinctively
with a conscience that is guided not by man’s interest, but by the Spirit of God.
So, let’s start there actually.
The Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is his Holy Spirit and will be capitalized
to give no confusion or credence to the other “spirit” that will be discussed
in this blog. We have discussed in the previous two parts of the series, about
the nature of the pagan gods, and their miracles, the nature of the spirits of
our age and how demonic presences can be felt among the UFOs seen by people in
the sky, and now we will talk about perhaps the greatest deception taking place
in the guise of God’s own people. There are now Christian movements which seek
to receive the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit” instead of the Baptism of Christ.
This is commonly referred to as speaking in tongues. But if we can glean anything
from Father Seraphim Rose and others within the text of this book, it is
anything but Christian. Those who speak in tongues from their own mouths suggest
that they have lost all desire to read the scriptures, to repent of their sins
(because God is inside them why do they need to repent of anything), and to in
general draw closer to God. Some have even reported faking their experience,
because they wanted to fit in with the crowd and to do as others did. Clearly
this is not something that we as Orthodox or any true Christian would want to
seek, because we want authentic experiences and witnesses of the faith. We want
full repentance of our sins because we see that we are sinners before God.
The Spirit of God, not
only seeks and draws us to repentance and authentic experiences and witness, but
it is also a unifier. There is not a single united Pentecostal Church. If this
spirit, that is flowing through these people truly was from God, they would be
unified in their front. The movement would be one. But like the Protestant
movement in general, differences have risen from the various members of the Pentecostal
movement, and have caused division, squabbles, and outright heresies to be
spoken. The very interpretation of scripture varies among the different denominations
of the Pentecostal movement and even the practices vary. This is not and never
has been taught by Orthodoxy. If we contrast this with the Spirit that lives
within the Orthodox Church, we see that for 2000 years the Spirit has unified
us and kept us free of divisiveness. Like any family, there are disagreements and
people will from time to time be corrected for their wrongdoings, but the
Church remains intact. To an outsider, when we as Orthodox speak of Romanian, Russian,
Serbian, Georgian, Greek Orthodox, they see that as separate faiths. However, to
the Orthodox observer, he knows they are simply jurisdictions placed in the world
for the sake of governance and they are united not by a leader like the papists,
but by their faith. The Pentecostal movement
does not have that. It never did, and because the spirit is not from God, it
never will.
Thirdly, the Spirit of God,
like the demons that imitate it, changes with the times. When the church was
established, the various surrounding nations and tribes had long been in idolatry
and paganism, just like many in the world today. The Spirit of God in those
times used the apostles and the first Church Fathers, to speak boldly in the
language of foreign tongues, to proclaim that the Gospel would reach all people
in all times. As the Spirit of God went forth with the missionaries called to
various lands, the gospel became translated among the faith across the world,
from Eastern Europe, to Africa, the natives of America and many others. It was
no longer necessary for the gift of speaking in tongues to be given to the
people. The best example of this is the Egyptian Fathers. While certainly you
can find great feats in the spirit, especially among the life of St. Anthony the
Great, you don’t find the speaking in tongues. In fact, for the Church’s nearly
2000+ year history, a majority of that time has been spent WITHOUT the gift of
speaking in tongues! Do you think that God, in his great providence, would
leave His Church, His Body, WITHOUT the most important portion of His Spirit IF
it was so necessary for salvation as those of the Pentecostal movement say it
is? If you said No, then you’re not under the deception like those who follow
this movement are. God is certainly not mocked, and by assuming that God is just
now revealing a portion of His Spirit, when He has given the Church his
blessing and established it on the Day of Pentecost so that IT and IT ALONE, could
dispense of the blessings of the Holy Spirit upon all those who believe. Therefore,
this again dear brothers and sisters is grave error and must be avoided by all
who call themselves True Christians.
While I could continue to
write an entire book on this subject, the information is more concise in Father
Seraphim Rose’s book. We will be
continuing this discussion in the next blog and looking exactly at the characteristics
of speaking in tongues and while they are opposed to Christianity and Orthodoxy
in general. I have for the sake of this blog not included quotes from the book to
use them in that discussion.
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