Monthly Archives: April 2007

-Revival at the Crystal Cathedral?

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Note: This is not a satire or joke, it is the real thing. The Holy Spirit fell upon the people worshiping in the Crystal Cathedral on Palm Sunday, they never got to the offering, they had an alter call and started an impromptu baptismal service instead. As far as anyone can tell, between 500-800 folks gave their lives to Christ or rededicated, and hundreds were baptized by Robert H. Schuller and his staff.
This next part is going to sound bazaar and this is why I put the note at the beginning.

It all started with a testimony by Evel Knievel (the stunt man) about how God grabbed him one day:

“…the power of God in Jesus just grabbed me. All of a sudden, I just believed in Jesus Christ. I did, I believed in him! I rose up in bed and, I was by myself, and I said, ‘Devil, Devil, you bastard you, get away from me. I cast you out of my life.’ I just got on my knees and prayed that God would put his arms around me and never, ever, ever let me go.”

Pastor Robert A. Schuller (who took over for his father last year) said that he looked out on the congregation following the testimony and noticed most people were sobbing. Instead of continuing the service and calling for the offering which was scheduled next, he had an alter call instead:

“I went up front, and I said, ‘I believe there is somebody who needs to be baptized here. Maybe up on that balcony or by that door or by that wall. So come forward,’” Schuller told CT. “We started singing ‘Amazing Grace,’ and I started baptizing people, baptizing them as fast as I could.”

Read the whole article from Christianity Today, April 16, 2007.

I am laughing so much that I’m having a hard time finishing this article. God’s sense of humor blows me away sometimes. Thousands of Charismatic/Pentecostal churches are praying for a touch from God and he visits the Crystal Cathedral of all places, following the testimony of Evel Knievel. LOL. Nobody could ever make something like this up.

Praise God! This is definitely a sovereign move. It takes a miracle to change the order of a worship service in most of our churches, especially when it is a TV broadcast like it is at the Crystal Cathedral.

Re: “My Conversation with God”-John Piper Responds and I Respond to John Piper

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John Piper today posted a response to the anonymous “My Conversation with God” article that appeared in the March 2007 issue of Christianity Today and was posted on-line. I also responded to the article in a rather different way than Dr. Piper.

John Piper starts out his article telling us that he too has heard the voice of God speaking personally to him and gives a detailed account of the experience. However, the article turns in a different direction at the conclusion. Please read his post: “The Morning I Heard God’s Voice” before going on to my comments.
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John Piper is an incredibly gifted and anointed Bible scholar/teacher and his books and articles have blessed and enriched an entire generation of Christians. Some of his books are among my favorites. However, his article made me sad today. Particularly since I always look forward to his writing with a certain expectancy and today I was disappointed.

In the later part of his posting he responds to the earlier article -“My Conversation with God” and he says this about it:

What makes me sad about the article is not that it isn’t true or didn’t happen. What’s sad is that it really does give the impression that extra-biblical communication with God is surpassingly wonderful and faith-deepening. All the while, the supremely glorious communication of the living God that personally and powerfully and transformingly explodes in the receptive heart through the Bible everyday is passed over in silence.

And then:

I grieve at what is being communicated here. The great need of our time is for people to experience the living reality of God by hearing his Word personally and transformingly in Scripture. Something is incredibly wrong when the words we hear outside Scripture are more powerful and more affecting to us than the inspired Word of God.

My Response:

For me, it is wonderful and essential to experience the word of God in a variety of ways. While I am praying and meditating the Holy Spirit reminds me of things to pray about and changes that need to be made. When I am reading the Bible, the words leap out to me and become the word of God for me personally. On a number of occasions I have experienced the ‘voice of God’ speaking literally to me. For me all these experiences of God are Biblical and all are “surpassingly wonderful and faith-deepening”.

What does “extra-biblical” mean? Does it mean that God is now limited to only speak to us through the scriptures? Only the printed and translated words are to be trusted? I have studied under some of the top Bible scholars in the world and yet they were not believers. They knew the words far better than I ever will, and in the original languages. But it wasn’t the Word of God for them.

The words of the Bible become the Word of God for Christians because believers can experience the same Holy Spirit, who inspired the words in the first place. When believers read the words of the Bible today they are inspired by the Holy Spirit all over again.

The same Holy Spirit counsels us in our prayer and meditation. The same Holy Spirit teaches us and may even speak words of prophecy to us or through others. The same Holy Spirit inspires and anoints teachers and writers like John Piper. The same Holy Spirit enlivens the words printed on the pages in our Bibles.

It is his use of the words ‘extra-biblical’ that bothers me the most. It is way too close to ‘un-biblical’ and many will read that meaning into the words. According to the Webster’s Dictionary ‘extra’ used as a prefix means: outside, beyond, or besides (e.g.: the Mormon scriptures and theology are ‘extra-biblical’- outside, beyond, and besides the Bible). Can anything that the Holy Spirit does be characterized as ‘outside’, ‘beyond’ or ‘besides’ the Bible?

The Bible is the Word of God in a special unique way. The scriptures are the foundation of our faith and all other experiences must be tested and understood through His infallible Word. None of the other experiences or ‘words’ that we may receive should ever replace or contradict the Bible.

I believe that this is John Piper’s major concern; that some may see their own experiences and personally received ‘words’ as more important and as a substitute for the Bible. The scriptures should always be the primary source for Christians along with the Holy Spirit which enlivens the Word.

However, as important as the Bible is, the really great need of our time is for people to experience the living reality of God that enlivens the Word, the Holy Spirit who comes into the lives of all those who respond to the call of God, to come and have faith in his Son Jesus.