This
first
article in our fellowship comes by way of an encounter I had
some weeks ago with a young man in seminary. This young man had
once been involved with the Four Square (charismatic)
denomination in southern California. He had become disillusioned
with certain elements of the charismatic churches, especially
the great gap between their claim of spiritual experience and
their practical holiness. Having a good mind, he turned his
attention to the writings of the Reformers in his search for a
truer holiness, and wound up in seminary.
In
meeting
me one day, he was surprised to find someone who had made the
opposite journey. (I began my spiritual trek in the schools of
"fundamentalism,” gradually moved out into the "deeper life"
fellowships, and now am involved almost exclusively with
charismatic groups.) So we arranged to talk about it one
evening. Later, on reflection over our very profitable time
together, I sent this young man a follow-up letter. It is from
that letter that I draw today's article on "Spiritual
Pharisaism.”
Laying
a Foundation for Understanding
Today
we
are going to talk about spiritual reality
and our relationship to spiritual reality. We are going to talk
about the very basic question: "How
do we know what we know spiritually? And, How do we know that
what we know spiritually is true?"
Now
I
hope that doesn't sound too "cosmic" or philosophical. It's not
meant to, and I will do my best to keep this simple. But you
know, as Christians, we have one glaring fault in our
discussions with the world and with each other. Our problem is
that we just never "get to the bottom of things." We assume
everyone else knows "where we're coming from" and what we mean
by what we say. We use words like "truth," but we don't define
them.
We
take
too many things for granted. We operate on a host of unspoken
"hand-me-down" assumptions based in the teaching of others that
we have never questioned or tested for ourselves. Yet we accept
them as "gospel truth.” Much of the time even we don't know
what we
mean by the words we use, never mind others. Is it any wonder
then that theological debate and "strife about words to no
profit" abound? Is it a wonder that the world thinks we are mad
bigots?
Until
we
get to the root of why we believe what we believe, we're always
going to be at a loss to authoritatively say how we know what we
know is true. Few of us ever do this. Therefore we always talk
past each other, for we all speak based on differing unexamined
assumptions. Hence strife. (I think we're afraid to expose and
test our hidden assumptions lest we have to "eat crow" by
discovering our lifelong assumptions have been wrong).
For
this
reason we are going to talk at "ground level" today. We're going
to lay a foundation for understanding on which our fellowship
can build. We're going to come to some very basic understandings
about our faith—and hopefully head-off a lot of otherwise
inevitable controversy. So, please don't be bored by what
follows. Listen carefully, especially with your heart. (Remember what I said in the introductory letter: A
teachable heart is the only
way to true spiritual mind renewal.)
Follow
with
me then as we proceed to lay this valuable groundwork.
&&&&&&&&&&
In this article we are going to
establish two major understandings on which we will
build the rest of our case. These two are:
1.
Establishing
the one true and
final "reference point for reality" (to be defined);
2.
Maintaining
consistent appeal to
that reference point for discerning spiritual truth from error.
Establishing
the One True and Final Reference Point for Spiritual Reality
The
first
thing we must discuss is having a "reference point for spiritual
reality” and what that means.
Having
a
reference point for spiritual reality simply means having a way
that you know for sure what spiritually is
and what is not, and
for knowing the nature
of what spiritually is—whether it is of God or of some other
spiritual source. It means "knowing that you know" something in
such a way that you don't have to wrestle with it and wonder
whether what you "know" is really right, or whether you just
"think" you know it's right.
Now
we're
not talking here about verifying natural things, like whether a
car is blue or a table is hard! We're talking about verifying spiritual things. We're talking about knowing for sure what is of
God and what is not, what is spiritually reliable and what
is not. (If that has been a problem for you, wouldn't you like
to have it settled once and for all? If so, read on.)
“How
Do You Know You Are Born Again?”
Let’s
begin
with a question. Now I am assuming that all my readers are "born
again,” i.e., you claim to have been "converted" by the "gospel"
of Jesus Christ and you now
possess eternal life
(—if you don't claim this but would like to, or would at least
like to know more about it, please write me!)
Very
well.
For you who claim to be "born again,” here is my question:
What
happened to you when
you received Jesus Christ as your savior? What do you testify to
having encountered? Do you testify to a change in your life in some way? Did eternal life enter
into you? Did you receive a release
from guilt for your sins through the washing action of His
blood? Did you receive a new inner awareness of His life coming into you?
Did
all
these things really happen
to you, or did you just imagine them? Was it all theoretical? If
not theoretical and imaginary, if indeed you do testify that
these things happened to you, how do you know
they happened? How do you know
your life was changed? How do you know
you were released from guilt?
The
Scriptures
tell us that when we are born again, we “receive eternal life.”
This life is not described as an “idea” but as a quantifiable substance, because God is an actual Being, not someone's idea. He is
Spirit. Now spirit is substance of another
kind, but it is still substance,
not just imagined theory. “I
came that they may have life…more abundantly.”
The
Scriptures
say that as Spirit, God enters
into us. This is something that happens
to us. When He enters us, we sense
release from guilt. This happens
to us. When He enters us, we are changed.
It is a change we sense
somehow, even though we find it hard to describe. Nevertheless,
we know that it has happened,
and it's because we know
it happened that we can testify
to it. (You can't testify to something you don't know has
happened to you!)
But how
do we "know?" Well again, that may be hard to describe. Yes. It
is hard. And the reason it's hard to describe is because it
involves a new kind of
knowing that we've never had before. It is a spiritual
knowing. Our spirit has been "made alive to God" (that's
how the Scriptures describe it). We receive a new consciousness
of God that we never had before.
That's how we know these things happen
to us. We have a new spiritual
awareness. Moreover, this awareness speaks
for itself to us. It needs no proof to us. It's simply so, and we know it's so.
This is like a blind man who gets his
sight back. Once he can see, he knows he can see. He
doesn't need anybody to prove to him that he's no longer blind!
His sight speaks for itself to him. And this is how we know in
spirit we are born again. Our new spiritual awareness of God's
forgiveness and indwelling Presence speaks for itself to us.
(The word for this is "self validating" or "self verifying.”)
But
how
do we know this new spiritual awareness of "God" is not a false
awareness? How do we know we haven't been made alive unto the
devil?
Ah!
This
is because of Who God is. God Himself IS the Truth. He is the
Truth because He is the uncreated I AM, the eternal First and
the Last. What we call “truth” simply emanates and takes its
definition from the fact of His Being. Truth is
because He is.
Hence,
when
He enters us, Truth itself enters us. He enters us as the
"Spirit of Truth,” In this, His
own nature is self validating that He Is Truth. He needs
no proof to us that He Is Truth.
When
we
are converted therefore to receive a new spiritual
consciousness, we not only know of itself that we have been
inwardly transformed, but we know by the virtue inherent in
God’s nature that our conversion is unto Truth, not to a lie,
not to a devil.
Really
now,
when we were converted, the question of whether we were dealing
with the “right God” never even entered our minds! When we were
converted, we just knew it (even though we might not have been
able to say how we knew), and we knew we were dealing with our
Creator.
&&&&&&&&&&
What
am
I leading up to? What am I trying to demonstrate through such a
detailed discussion of our conversion?
I'm
trying
to surface to your attention that, far from being a mere figment
of imagination or some theoretical fling with intellect, your
conversion was your
introduction to a new realm of Reality via a new capacity for Knowing which you never had
before. We are talking about gaining access to spiritual
reality through the capacity to spiritually know. Moreover, this
spiritual reality is "True" reality, for God is at the centre of
this higher reality and He can be known Personally
only through this reality, not through nature. (It is only
in our personally knowing Him through the Spirit that we have
eternal life.)
True
spiritual conversion introduces us to a new realm of reality
that is ultimate and self-verifying. It cannot be proven
“true” outside of its own spiritual testimony. It witnesses to
itself and needs no other witness. Our access to this ultimate
reality is for us an end of all argument.
Yes,
then.
This is what happened to you when you were born again. You know
it (because it is self-validating), and the Scriptures bear
witness to this description. You may not have thought it all
through like this before (you didn't need to), but it is still
what happened.
Conversion
was
not something you simply talked yourself into, or that you
mentally assented to be true, or that you came to a theological
conclusion about! Through conversion, you became spiritually convicted and conscious
of Jesus Christ living in
you. That is the new eternal Life you received
(into you)... new life, new consciousness, new reality. In
short, a new creation–on the invisible inside.
&&&&&&&&&&
Now
I
ask you—do you have any problem with that? Is that not an
accurate description of your conversion? Are not those the spiritual happenings within you to which you bear witness?
I'll
tell
you right now so you don't need to waste your time reading any
further: If you think you were converted because you made a mere
mental decision for
Christ, or because you can quote certain scriptures that tell
men how they can know
if they are saved—but
you cannot testify to a new inner spiritual
awareness of Christ through release
from
guilt over the conviction
and forgiveness of your sins—then
you are not born again. And if you insist that you are,
you are only lying to yourself and my fellowship is not for you.
No scripture can tell you that you are saved. It can tell you by
what means you can know so. But if that means
itself is not an actuality in your life, you are not
converted. Only God’s Spirit
within yours can assure you of your salvation.
&&&&&&&&&&
Now
for
the punch line. Do you see what we have established through this
elaborate description of conversion? We have established that
through true conversion, we
have access to a new reference point for reality. This
reference point is none other than our spiritual awareness of
the indwelling Presence of the Spirit of Truth.
Why
has
all this been so important to belabor? You see, you've always
assumed these things to be so. But you are so used to them as
assumptions that you have failed to think through the logical
implications of them in carrying on your faith. As a result,
you are making one claim concerning your conversion, but are
making inconsistent statements
and affirmations and denials concerning other areas of Christian
spirituality. This brings us to our second major point today:
Maintaining
Consistent Appeal to the Same Reference Point for Verifying
Spiritual Reality
Until
you
were born again, you had another way for verifying reality. It
was based on the experience of your five senses and your ability
to reason out your experiences with your natural mind. You
depended on your own ability to make sense out of what you
encountered naturally. When you get right down to it, you simply
believed in your own mind.
Your mind served as your compass (reference point) for what is
true, what is real.
(In
the
world, this is called the "scientific method.” The one amazing
thing about the theology of the world is that it universally
believes in the power of the human mind to verify reality. Where
did this assumption come from and why does no one question
this?)
After
you
were born again, you received a new-reference point for reality.
But at the same time, you
did not lose your old one!
Oh
my.
What a predicament! Let's run that by again? Yes, when you were
born again, you received a new access to ultimate spiritual
reality with the capacity to verify that reality through spiritual
awareness. But you did not lose your capacity of a
lifetime for verifying (what you thought was) final reality by your mind.
But
the
problem doesn't end there. You see, these two faculties in you
for verifying truth (your mind and your spirit) are not neutral
neighbors between which you may casually choose by which one you
will think. No. They are each charged by opposing energies, the
one by the devil through the world and your own fleshly life
force; and the other by God’s Spirit within you. They are at
enmity within us, struggling for our allegiance, and we are
caught in the middle. It is precisely because this matter of
verifying (final) Reality and spiritual truth is an issue of
such conflict that articles like this are necessary to help
struggling saints!
It
would
have been so nice if, when we were converted, God had wiped out
our old compass before giving us the new one! Wouldn't that have
made life so much simpler? Yes. But He didn't do it. And there
is a reason He didn't do it. (We'll get to that in a minute.)
Right
now,
the only point I want to make is this: Whether it's easy or hard
to have to deal with two reference points for final reality, the
fact is that you can
only live by one! And when it comes to judging spiritual
things, the only
reference point for reality you can use is your access to
spiritual awareness.
Sometimes,
when
it comes to judging natural things, you can see things one way
from a natural viewpoint, and then another way spiritually. But
concerning spiritual things, the only
viewpoint you can use is spiritual awareness. Natural
understanding can't tell a thing, and if your spiritual
awareness just isn't "up to snuff" over a certain issue, you
simply can't pass any valid judgment on it.
In
this
article, we are only concerned with spiritual things. And since
the only reference
point you can use to judge spiritual things is your access to
spiritual awareness, the point we are making is that you have to
be consistent in
judging spiritual things by spiritual awareness. After all,
we're talking about reality.
Choosing a reference point for what is spiritually real and what
is spiritually true isn't like shopping for a can of beans. One
week you buy this brand. Next week you buy another brand.
No.
Choosing
a reference point for reality is something you choose once,
and then you stick to it forever. Truth can ultimately be based on only one
standard for Reality. Otherwise there is no such thing! And the
point is that, when you become a Christian and have your first
taste of spiritual reality, whether you realize it or not, you
are making a lifetime
commitment to live by spiritual awareness as your new,
unchangeable, reference point for reality.
(That,
by
the way, is the definition of living
by
faith. Do you see that? "Faith" is not intellectual
agreement with a set of "beliefs.” Faith
is the practical outworking of life in response to inner
spiritual awareness of God's conviction and revelation.
Don't forget that definition!)
The
Demand of Consistency
Let's
really
"zero in" on this consistency
thing. If there is anything we read clearly in the Scriptures,
it is that inconsistency is a bad thing. James calls it
"doublemindedness.” Jesus said it like this: "No
man can serve two masters."
What
does
this mean? Well, while it undoubtedly applies to the choice
between serving God and serving "the world,” the
bottom-line-of-it is that we
can't serve two reference points for reality. We can't
serve "two consciousnesses.” We have to choose to live finally
by either spiritual awareness, or by natural ability to
interpret and apply spiritual things -
but not both.
We
can't
make some decisions based on spiritual "conviction" and others
based on what "we think.” Nor can we come to some final
evaluations based on "revelation" and others based on
"interpretation.” (I know some of you say you don't even believe
in "revelation.” Well, you really do, but either don't know it
or won't admit it. We'll get to that in a minute.)
Jesus
is
absolutely "death" on this matter of inconsistency. Yet what we
find, and what the purpose of this article is to expose, is that
the vast number of us Christians live precisely this way in our
attitude toward verifying spiritual Truth. We decide some issues
based on our encounter with spiritual reality. And we decide
other issues based on what we choose to think, or what some
admirable man has taught us is the "correct" way to believe
about an issue. Some things we verify through spiritual
conviction. Other things we "verify" by personal prejudice,
fear, and such like.
Today
I
intend to challenge you very deeply over this matter of
consistency in how you establish your understanding of what is
true and false. This leads us straight to the heart of today's
article on "spiritual pharisaism.” But before we address that,
there's one thing I said we'd come back to.
Spiritual
Growth
A
little bit ago, I said we'd discuss why God didn't take away our
old reference point for reality when He gave us our new
spiritual one at conversion. Here's why:
Our
access
to spiritual reality through spiritual awareness is something
that has capacity for growth! It is not static. Remember,
spiritual awareness is what eternal
life is all about. And life
is not dormant. It grows. It expands.
It develops. So it is with our awareness of spiritual reality.
But
how
does it grow, or why? Is it automatic?
No.
It
is not automatic. In order to grow, spiritual awareness needs
exercise. And where there is exercise, there must be a force
against which to exercise. Where there is to be motion, there
must be friction.
For
a
runner to run, he must have ground against which to thrust.
Well, this is how it is with spiritual growth. God left the
natural power of unbelief with us so our spiritual awareness
would have a force against which to exercise and come to
maturity. As we exercise our spiritual conviction against our native power of mental deduction, our capacity for spiritual sensitivity expands. (And by
the way, now you have the true definition of "spiritual growth.”
It has nothing to do with our natural ability to assimilate
complex theology! Don't forget it.)
As
our
spiritual awareness grows, it displaces
our old natural awareness of things as our reference point for
living. So even though as long as we live this life we have to
deal with the opposition of our minds to our spiritual growing;
our attachment to natural awareness should be an ever
diminishing factor for us all.
But
look
now! If it is true that spiritual growth refers to our capacity
to develop spiritual awareness, what does that imply? It implies
that there is room for going on to encounter God in increasing spiritual
dimensions beyond those we know when we are first converted.
In
other
words, there is room for things to happen to us on spiritual
levels that we at first had no capacity for as new-born babes in
Christ! Isn't that true in natural life? As people grow from
babies to children to adults, their natural senses develop.
Children see what babies cannot see. Adults hear what children
cannot hear. This is so. As we mature in natural life, perspective
and depth of encounter
with life increases.
Well
the
same is true for our inner man. As spiritual awareness
increases through spiritual exercise against unbelief, our
capacity for encounter with various dimensions of spiritual
reality also increases.
Hey!
Wake
up! Are you starting to see something here? Now you can
understand why there is such a wide variety of testimonies by
Christians to so many
different kinds of encounters with spiritual reality!
Consider:
·
Some
claim
to speak with tongues.
·
Some
claim
to hear God speak (degrees of this vary from spiritual
impressions to audible words).
·
Some
claim
to see visions.
·
Some
claim
to cast out demons,
·
Some
(like
me) claim to receive divine revelations concerning Truth.
·
Some
claim
to work miracles and heal the sick.
·
Some
testify
to out-of-the-body encounters with God.
And
do
you know what? All these testimonies are self validating—just like conversion.
But
what
about those who have not "experienced" these phenomena and are
offended by them and discredit them? (Perhaps you the reader are
such a person). But on what basis are they discredited?
Ah!
That
brings us to the core subject of our article:
Spiritual Pharisaism
I
think everyone here is probably familiar with the term
"Pharisee.” Historically, the Pharisees were that group of
religion-ists in ancient Israel who opposed the Lord Jesus
Christ. They were noted for their hypocritical "legalism.” They
preached one thing openly, but secretly practiced another. Yet
they prided themselves on their strict adherence to (their
understanding of) the Law—not to mention their multitudinous
ordinances derived from their own interpretations of the
Scriptures. Because He spoke according to the Spirit behind the
letter of scripture, Jesus was neither understood nor received
by the Pharisees. Instead, they killed Him.
Based
on
this history, the term "Pharisee" comes down to us in modern
times. It is used quite freely in the Christian community to
refer to any Christian individual or group who either does not
practice what they preach, or who emphasizes the letter of
scriptural interpretation over the heart attitude of obedience.
Religious "Pharisees" are noted most for their emphasis on
external practices based on their interpretations of scripture
to which they hold one another accountable for proof of
spirituality. (In our times, the "fundamentalist" movement has
come to be most visibly identified with this attitude.)
While
what
I have just described is the most prominent manifestation of
Spiritual Pharisaism, I want in this article to get at something
much deeper. I want to get at the root of Pharisaism. This is
because Pharisaism is not just an historical thing, nor even
just the manifestation of conformity to certain rites that
surfaces in many groups of Christians. If we get to the root of
Pharisaism, we find that it is a spirit that eats away like a
cancer at our thinking process, and it is something we must all
deal with as we negotiate our journey over the way of faith.
What
then
is "Spiritual Pharisaism”? In its simplest definition, Spiritual
Pharisaism is the
attempt to live by two reference points for spiritual reality
at the same time.
We
are
willing to accept certain things as true based on our spiritual
encounter with them. But other things we are unwilling to accept
as possibly true because our minds can't accept them. Some
things we judge through personal spiritual encounter. Other
things we judge by natural reason—by whether they "make sense"
or "seem proper.” This is doublemindedness, and this is
the root essence of Spiritual Pharisaism.
In
turn,
when we apply our doublemindedness to evaluating the testimony
of others, then it blossoms into hypocrisy.
We are willing to testify to the truth of certain
spiritual encounters of our own. But when someone else testifies
to a spiritual encounter outside the limits of our experience,
we reject it based on our mind's inability to identify with it.
We reject them for using a standard that we ourselves use. This
is hypocrisy, and it is a hallmark of Spiritual Pharisaism.
The
hypocritical
doublemindedness of Spiritual Pharisaism has two forms. The
first is when our arguments against spiritual reality are based
on our own personal prejudices, fears, and ideas. The second is
when our naturally-minded attempts to verify truth are based on
our understanding of scripture. Let's take a detailed look at
both types.
"You Can't Go By Experiences'"
If
there
is one argument used by Christians more than any other to
dispute the testimony of someone else whose experience lies
outside the realm of their own, this is it. The argument "you
can't go by experiences" is representative of all purely
personal arguments people use when judging spiritual things with
their heads. It is a thoughtless, defensive argument without
basis even in scripture.
Of
all
natural arguments Christians use for verifying further spiritual
reality, this is the most hypocritical. This is because everybody goes by experience, whether they like it or not—and every
genuine Christian goes by some degree of spiritual experience.
Even the unsaved man goes by experience. His experiences are
just based in his five senses. That's all.
Look,
life
and experience are inseparable. There is no such thing as
theoretical, non-experiential life. Life can't be verified apart
from experience, whether natural or spiritual. And since God is
both Life and Truth, and truth is therefore an issue of life and
not theory, it means truth can only be verified by experience!
If you don't have experience with it, you can't prove what is
true. Simple as that. This is so in natural life. It is also so
concerning spiritual reality.
When
a
man disputes spiritual testimony by saying "you can't go by experiences,” all he is admitting is that he himself
has never had that experience. But he isn't proving that the
other man didn't have it. But in any case, to say that is
hypocritical, for every Christian goes by spiritual experience.
Some
of
you deny the possibility of divine revelation. But what then is
conviction of sin? Have you ever been convicted of sin? (If not,
you're not a Christian.) But what is it? Is it an emotion? Is it
an idea? No. Then what is it? It has to be a spiritual
revelation!
Conviction
of
sin is a spiritual revelation of the most primitive order. But
it is still a revelation, not a theory. So you see? You really do believe in spiritual revelation. But if you have spiritual
revelation in one form, and that revelation is a function of
eternal life, and if life grows, then who
are you to deny it when someone else testifies to a much more
developed form of revelation? Who are you to say, "God
doesn't speak today?” This is hypocrisy. It is Spiritual
Pharisaism.
Is
it
not clear that the New Birth is a spiritual experience? You
can't be born again without spiritually experiencing it. An
experience is simply something that happens to you. A spiritual
experience is simply something that happens to you spiritually.
Conviction
of
sin, release from guilt, awareness of inward cleansing—these are
all spiritual experiences that are fundamental to every
Christian. And they speak for themselves and they form the basis
of our testimony to others. This is not to mention the many
other spiritual experiences identified in scripture and
considered common to us all—love, joy, peace... You can't
theorize these. You either experience them or you don't. So it
is foolish to say, "You
can't go by experiences."
So
where
is the real problem? The problem is not with spiritual
experience. Every man with eternal life is alive by spiritual
experience. The problem is over the
degree of the development of our experience.
The
problem
is that while we have no problem verifying our conversion
through spiritual experience, we try to verify the
testimonies of those whose experience transcends ours by the
pride of our natural reason and personal prejudice. We are
offended when others testify to spiritual experience greater
than or outside the realm of our experience.
Our
minds
don't want to admit that there may be more to experience in God
than we have attained. We all want to think that our plateau of
spiritual experience is the “ultimate” plateau and the standard.
“There can’t possibly be
any more to spiritual reality than what I have at conversion.”
Then when a different or superior testimony to spiritual
experience comes along, we try to shoot it down with a
non-living argument built on fear and prejudice. (Of course, as
is well said elsewhere, so here: A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument.)
This
is
the first form of Spiritual Pharisaism, and it runs rampant
throughout the body of Christ. It is fascinating (?) to behold
the plethora of spiritual experiences to which so many in the
body give testimony—from body to body, from group to group, and
from individual to individual—and then to watch the spirit of
Pharisaism operate as so many discredit one another's
testimonies—from body to body, from group to group, and from
individual to individual.
In
our
day, the greatest visible confrontation is between those who
testify to the experience of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
subsequent to conversion, and those who do not. The
fundamentalists and other evangelicals have great antipathy
toward the charismatics. Of course, the charismatics are not at
their mercy. Once you encounter genuine spiritual experience,
no one can take it from you, no matter how much they rant and
rave.
(You
know,
if I was a fundamentalist—which I once was—I would wonder how so
many millions of "charismatics" who show as much love and zeal
for Jesus as I do could all be "making up" this testimony to a
further spiritual experience in God? I couldn't in honesty use
their faults and “scandals” against them because my people have
the same faults and scandals! I would think, surely there must
be something more to this, and I must find it out for sure!)
Of
course,
the strife over spiritual testimonies does not end neatly there.
Within these two greater bodies are smaller groups and subgroups
who challenge each other's testimony with empty argument. Within
the evangelical camp are those who argue over testimony to a
"deeper" life" experience. Some argue over hearing God's voice.
(The words "The Lord spoke to me" have a dozen shades of testimony!) On the
other side, in the pentecostal and charismatic body, there is
rife division over the innumerable types of spiritual encounters
to which others bear witness. All of this argument is Spiritual
Pharisaism in full bloom.
In
just
a moment we are going to study the second major form of
Spiritual Pharisaism. But before we do, I want to challenge you
concerning this first form. If what we
have described so far describes you in any way, if you claim to
be converted in Christ but are relying on personal argument to
discredit the testimonies of others to further or different
experiences than yours, I challenge you to repent.
Become
intellectually
honest with yourself. If you are not open to the possibility of
spiritual experiences in life, then disclaim your conversion.
But if you testify to conversion through experiencing conviction
and forgiveness through repentance, then be open to spiritual
reality beyond that most basic evidence of it. (This calls for
humility.) Face the fact that you have simply not developed your
capacity for spiritual awareness or for encountering spiritual
reality—(whatever else you may have been developing!). Become
teachable and let God renew your mind. Quit quenching the spirit
through argument. Instead, renounce "argument" as your way for
verifying Truth.
"Of
Oracles and Stumblingblocks"
In
the
course of human history and God's plan to save to Himself a
people, God deemed it necessary to compromise with human
intellect if by any means He might reach the spirit of man with
His saving Life. He made concessions to us by presenting His
Life-giving Word to us in forms that touched our natural
awareness. He began by presenting His Word through the audible
spoken voice of prophets: Enoch, Noah, and others. Then He
conceded to touch our eyes through the word in written form.
The
first
of these forms was called "The Law" and was delivered through
the prophet Moses. From that time forward, God's Word has
graciously conceded to meet us through our natural eyes and ears
through a succession of written and spoken forms in every
generation. The voices of prophets and apostles with their
writings have continued to come to us through the centuries. The
founding written form has come down to us today in what we call
the Bible.
These
aids from God held a
great potential for blessing, facilitating His ability to reach
us and develop us by His Spirit life. But at the same time, God
was taking a risk. For these same aids held an equal potential
for curse should they somehow be misappropriated to strengthen
the unbelief of our minds rather than lead us to encounter with
spiritual reality. Why, it was conceivable that these aids could
become diverted to instead block
our encounter with the Spirit rather than facilitate it!
When
we come to study the Pharisees of ancient Israel, we
find that, yes, this is precisely what happened! If there is one
thing for which we today note the Pharisees, it is that they misappropriated the
oracles of God given to lead them to spiritual reality and
twisted them to reinforce their own understanding.
The
Pharisees
had the Law of Moses. The Law was given them to lead them to
faith in Christ of Whom it testified. But instead, the Pharisees
used the Law to reinforce their natural reference point for
reality and block access to spiritual reality. Instead of coming
to True Reality, the Pharisees used the Scriptures
to deny the possibility of spiritual reality.
Therefore
they
could not believe in the One before their faces of Whom the
scriptures testified, but instead crucified Him. They took the Scriptures and used them in unbelief as a foundation for
their own religion of human rules and ordinances. They had the
right materials, but the wrong plan, and so built the wrong
building—one fit to be condemned.
From
this
we learn what Spiritual Pharisaism is in its worst possible
manifestation. Spiritual Pharisaism is the
misuse of the naturally perceivable oracles of God to
reinforce natural understanding as our final reference point
for reality.
The
Pharisees
had the Law. Today we have the complete Bible and other forms of
ministry. Whenever we use the Bible in a way that reinforces our
trust in natural understanding rather than our spiritual
awareness, we are practicing Spiritual Pharisaism.
The
Bible
was given as a blessing—a gateway to spiritual reality. But when
usurped by the power of natural study to the building up of the
human intellect, it is become a curse (what scripture itself
calls a "stumblingblock"). You see how deceptive Spiritual
Pharisaism is. It causes us to believe that since we have the
materials that lead to true spirituality, we therefore have
spirituality.
Here
is
what we need to understand about the oracles of God, i.e., about
any naturally-perceivable form of God's Word (whether Scripture
or human ministry): The oracles
of God are not the
reality, but are the reflections
of the reality. Remember this. Anything you can see with your
natural eye, hear with your natural ear, or touch with your
natural mind is only a reflection of Reality—even if it is given
by God and can lead us there. But
you
have not touched spiritual reality until you have touched it
through your spiritual awareness.
The
Camera of the Mind
Spiritual
Pharisaism
substitutes reflection of reality for reality itself. It accepts
a reflection of reality in the mind for reality in the spirit.
It takes that which is given by God to lead us to spiritual
encounter and makes it an object of worship in itself. It makes
an end out of that which is only a means to an end.
To
use
an illustration, Spiritual Pharisaism is like taking a
photograph of something and insisting that one has the real
thing in his hand. If I hold up a photograph of a man before an
audience and ask "What is this?” the audience will invariably
say, "It's a man." But
it is not a man. It
is a picture of a
man.
Spiritual
Pharisaism
works the same way. It takes a reflection of something
spiritual—something which the natural mind can snapshot—and then
insists that because the mind can grasp it, it has the spiritual
reality behind it.
The
Scriptures
are a "photograph" of spiritual reality. They are a reflection
which the mind can snapshot. But the Scriptures are not
spiritual reality. They lead us to an end, but they are not the
end. They point us to encounter with spiritual reality—but
possession of them and natural ability to understand their
meaning is no guarantee that we have encountered the Reality
behind them through spiritual awareness.
The
Scriptures
tell us how to be saved, but
the
Scriptures do not save us. Who saves us? It is Jesus
Christ by His Spirit Who saves us. We are not saved because our
minds encounter scripture, but
because our spirits give entrance to Jesus Christ Himself by
the Spirit.
The
Scriptures
did not die on the cross for us nor rise again. They only tell
the story of the One Who did. They only bear witness. God has
given us many witnesses of His salvation. But the witnesses do
not save anyone. The Savior alone saves through their
naturally-perceivable testimony.
We
ourselves
are witnesses. But our testimony saves no one. Jesus alone saves
as He touches men's hearts from within our testimony. So it is
with the Scriptures. The Scriptures are a written compilation of
the testimonies of those who themselves had made contact with
spiritual reality. The Scriptures bear witness. But this
compilation of inspired testimony saves no one. Again, it is
Jesus Christ touching our spiritual awareness Who saves.
What
we
have just said concerning conversion is nothing new. We already
established at the beginning that we knew we were converted
because something happened to us inwardly, not because we made a
mental deduction.
But
here's
the point. AFTER conversion, we
must
go on to consistently verify reality through spiritual
awareness. This refers to everything we believe after we
are converted. We must prove the veracity of what we believe by
our access to the indwelling Spirit of Truth, not
by our mere mental apprehension of the reflections of
Scripture. As the Scriptures do not save us (though we may
be converted through their testimony), neither can we verify
further Reality through our natural understanding of Scripture
(though the Scriptures are the foundational means through which
our spiritual awareness and access to Reality develops).
Take
the
fact that when we were converted we did not lose the capacity
for verifying reality through our minds, and add it to the lie
that says the Scriptures are the Reality and not just the
reflection of it, and we see why Spiritual Pharisaism
pertaining to the use of scripture is an absolutely permeating
cancer throughout the Church.
Spiritual
Pharisaism
tells us that once we are converted, our old minds are somehow
automatically sanctified and so, when we approach the Scriptures
(the "end" of all reality), we
can now be automatically certain of verifying truth through
our ability to
“accurately interpret" scripture. Therefore, whatever we
conclude as we compare scripture with scripture must be the
"Truth.”
(Of
all
the untested "hand-me-down" assumptions on which new-born saints
have set out to build their faith, these tandem lies are the
most reprehensible. And any saint worth his salt after ten or
twenty years usually finds out that he has been building his
faith on these faulty assumptions and has to go back to tear it
down and start all over again. What a waste of spiritual human
energy that could have been better spent from the beginning
developing spiritual awareness and access to spiritual Reality!)
(As
an
aside, there is a great irony that manifests through trying to
verify Truth with these pharisaical assumptions. It is that
everyone who builds his spiritual house on these assumptions also assumes that only
he and those who agree with his understandings has this
capacity for knowing the "truth.” But any other believer or
group who disagrees with his interpretations does not have this
capacity, either because he didn't go to the "right" school or
was reading the "wrong" books, and is therefore "deceived.”
Is
it
any wonder there are hundreds of denominations and hundreds more
splinter groups? Is it any wonder the world thinks of the Church
as a house full of hypocritical bigots? See what happens when
you build faith on more than one reference point for reality and
use the oracles of God to do so! This is the legacy left to us
after 2,000 years of Spiritual Pharisaism. And in the ages to
come, the Church Age will be remembered and studied as that age
which failed to learn from its Old Testament predecessor.)
No,
dear
Friends. We must get this straight. The Scriptures shall always
only be a reflection
of reality (one day when Perfection comes, they will be as
unnecessary as they were before they were given), and our minds
shall always only be able to present us snapshots of Truth.
But
we can only know the truth and verify reality through
spiritual awareness of the indwelling Spirit of truth. And if
this is the basis of the certain knowledge that we are
converted, it is also the basis of our certain knowledge of
anything beyond conversion. To grow in truth is to grow in our
capacity for spiritual awareness, not to hone our natural
ability to interpret scripture.
Mind
you,
there is nothing wrong with developing our capacity for natural
thought. There is nothing wrong with learning correct logic with
respect to natural understanding. There is nothing wrong with
study, or schooling, or any of these things in themselves. These
can be and are valuable
"helps" in making us better reflectors of Reality if used
properly. (Were it not for such helps as these, I could not
write you this article to help
your faith!) As well, there is nothing wrong with holding
personal unillumined viewpoints and opinions over various
spiritual issues.
But
if we are to speak with authority, we must be able to speak
from revelation, not deduction.
(I am writing you this article by revelation, not merely by
reasoned logic.) This is what distinguished Jesus
and the Apostles from the scribes and Pharisees.
This is what distinguishes genuine witnesses
and
testimony from hearsay-ists. And this is what must
distinguish Us as men
and women who are gaining in conformity to the image of Him
whose every word was
revealed Truth.
But
unless
and until you can speak from immediate on-going access to the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation, don't insist that you are
speaking Truth. Simply say, "That's
the way I see it (right now)." Otherwise you are guilty of
practicing Spiritual Pharisaism.
"Wrapping
It Up"
Here
then
is the heart of my challenge to you. All of you to whom I write
are professing believers in Jesus Christ. My commission is to
spur believers on to personal perfection. But you cannot go on
to perfection if you are building your life by the Scriptures in
a way that reinforces your old reference point for reality.
Therefore,
however
old or young you are in the Lord, I challenge you right here and
now to start taking your faith apart brick by brick. Examine it
to see what kind of mortar you have been using. If you are
uncertain that from the beginning you have used your access to
scripture and ministry to strengthen your grasp of spiritual
reality, you need to do this. It is probable that some or much
of your building is built with human assumptions concerning
Truth.
Check
your
personal blueprints from God for the course of your life. You
may have the right materials (like scripture), but have you
tapped into God's personal blueprint through His inward revealed
plan for you? Or are you building according to the blueprints of
someone else's ministry, or the dictates of some religious
organization, or some school of theological thought? Are you a
cog in a machine? Are you a "spiritual bureaucrat”?
Now
is
the time to examine why
you are where you are in spiritual service, and why
you believe what you believe in spiritual thought. And if deep
down inside you know you've been tricked into building your life
according to the blueprints of Spiritual Pharisaism, NOW is the
time to do something about it.
Here
are
some questions you can ask yourself to help you examine your
true state of faith and purify your consistency:
·
Am
I a person who draws conclusions from scriptures or who
receives revelation through scriptures?
·
Do
I live by spiritual conviction or by scriptural
interpretation?
·
Do
I measure my estimation of spirituality by correct
understanding of doctrine or by spiritual awareness of God's
indwelling Presence?
·
When
I want to verify the truth of what I read, hear, or think, do
I ultimately count on my inner awareness of the Spirit of
Truth, or do I trust my mental deductions based on the
reflections of my own understanding off the pages of
scripture?
·
When
I give testimony to my salvation, do I bear witness to what He
is doing in me today, or do I have to look to the past to give
an answer for the hope that (supposedly) lies within me?
Look.
Reality
is all that matters. And if we're not touching the Reality of
the Spirit to which we have access through Jesus Christ, we're
wasting our time. I ask you to especially take stock of your
attitude toward spiritual manifestations and the unknown. If
there are things you disbelieve right now, you need to find out
if it is because you spiritually verified it from within, or if
it is because your mind just doesn't "see it" (or doesn't want
to "see it").
Today—in
the
name of "standing on the Word”—men are quoting their own
unbelieving reflections of scripture to declare that "God can't do this today" or "God can't communicate like
that today.” This is going on at all
levels, not just among evangelicals, but in other ways among
charismatics. (No group holds a monopoly on unbelief.)
Listen.
I
have a word for you. Unless you have a specific
scripture to say what God can or can't do today,
you're not quoting scripture, but an interpretation
of scripture, and frankly, your interpretation is not "worth
beans.” You cannot use mental approach to Scriptures to finally
verify anything, even if you have a scripture that point blank says
such-and-such. And if you can't count on your own understanding
of the "clear" scriptures, how much less can you count on
interpretations drawn from an arrangement of scriptures, none
of which specifically say such-and-such is so?
Follow
on
with me. You cannot use arguments from silence
relative to scripture to say what is and what is not possible
for God to do today. I hear people say all the time, "I don't find that in the Bible.” They believe God can only do what
He is reported to have done before in scripture. Yet
I don't find in
the Scriptures where God says He can only do anything as
long as it has already been reported as happening in
scripture! (Where did this thinking come from? It is
one more of those untested, time-honored human
assumptions which men call "scriptural" but which cannot
be found in Scripture. Our thinking is littered with many such
assumptions.)
Has
the
point been adequately made? Clearly, all such arguments, whether
direct quotes of Scripture or indirect interpretations of
Scripture, or arguments only imagined
as being based in Scripture—all are irrelevant
when it comes to verifying
present spiritual reality. This is because no
argument can verify spiritual truth. And when we use
"scriptural" argument to try to verify
rather than confirm
reality, we are guilty of Spiritual Pharisaism,
For
those
of us who have built our spiritual houses on the sands of such
argument, it is time to dismantle and get back to re-affirming
our first love, even our first access to spiritual awareness of His
love—and with it, our brand new reference point for Reality that
we received at conversion. It's time to start over, to live
solely by that new reference point, and to do so consistently
from now on.
For
some
of you, this idea of living by spiritual awareness as your final
reference point for reality is a "scary" thing. But that is only
because your present level of awareness is so undeveloped, not
because the things to which others testify are not so. For many
of you, despite having been a Christian for years, your
spiritual awareness has never increased past the point of
sensing conviction for your sins and receiving forgiveness.
Therefore,
let
me say to you the following things. First, before you criticize
anyone for an "experience-based" testimony, remember that your
own testimony to conversion is "experience-based.” Recognize
that the problem is not with a person's experience, but with
your own inability to judge whether that person's testimony is
of God because your own spiritual sensitivity is not
sufficiently developed to comprehend it. Therefore you feel
intimidated. Instead of criticizing someone else's testimony to
a "strange" experience, you owe it to your own consistency and
intellectual honesty to press that much further into
strengthening your own spiritual awareness to the place where
you can rightly judge spiritual things.
Second,
recognize
your fear for what it is—a manifestation of your own unbelief.
The following spirits flow together: fear, natural understanding
(pride of reasoning), unbelief, legalism. These are the core
spirits that operate behind Spiritual Pharisaism. Therefore,
hear well: Whatever may or may not be true about another
person's spiritual experience, one thing is absolutely true—your
fear can't be used to validate anything about anyone else!
Your fear is merely a commentary on your own unbelief and your
inability or unwillingness to let go of your own understanding.
But it is no commentary at all on God's trustworthiness to lead
and guide us in the way of all spiritual reality (as He
promised!)
I
have yet to see either in Scripture or through personal
experience where God used fear of the unknown as a standard for
verifying spiritual Reality. But I do see where God has said
that His love and that kind of fear are incompatible, and also
where God's challenges to greater walks of faith in people have
ever been by the overcoming
of their fears to trust Him. So instead of balking at living by
spiritual reality (faith) and instead of criticizing the
testimonies of others, stand up to your fear like a man and
humble yourself before God. But don't succumb to speaking evil
of what you know nothing about.
Thirdly,
if
you have been using Scriptures to hide and protect your fear, lay them down at once
before you warp your mind any further. Settle first the issue of
having a meek, teachable, open heart—a heart willing to admit
that you do not have
all there is to have in experiencing God's gracious salvation.
Once
you
have settled that and come into peaceful submission to the
indwelling Spirit of Truth, then
open your Bible again and be prepared to see spiritual realities
you never saw before. You will find that spiritual reality
wasn't such a scary thing after all.
You will find that your brother's testimony to
something supernatural was not so "off base" after all. And even
if it was, there was no reason for you to have been intimidated
by it, because now you have discovered the sufficiency of God's
Spirit to keep you in truth one more time.
&&&&&&&&&&
We
are
in the last hours of the last days. If ever there was a time to
be pressing into the fullness of spiritual reality, it is now.
Nothing less will see us through the times ahead. The Church
needs people who will press their walk by faith "to the max.” We
need to take our encounter with faith into realms hitherto
unknown. We should set new precedents for faith of which the
next age can boast! —doing things that have never been done
before, and receiving revelation unlocking mysteries never
unlocked before!
But
I
say, just what kind of legacy will
we leave our spiritual descendants? And when the Son of Man
comes, will
He
indeed find any more faith here than when He left?
Having
completed
my case, let me close by asking, Where is your heart in all
these things?
"Examine
your own selves, whether ye be in the faith." First of all, have you
experienced by faith the New Birth in our Lord Jesus Christ? If
you never have, or have so only "theoretically,” and you would
like to, please write me. We will
introduce you to this new eternal living Reality which we have
found and to which we give testimony.
Second,
if
you have been converted, have you dedicated your life to
pressing on into the fullness of the spiritual reality you first
encountered? Are you committed to living by one reference point
for reality? Are you eager to encounter your God on greater and
greater practical (not theoretical) levels?
Or
have
you settled along the way, using your Bible to put a cap on any
further spiritual reality into which God would lead you? Have
you succumbed to the spirit of Pharisaism, hindering not only
yourself, but others as well? If you have done so ignorantly, I
beg to shake you out of your slumber that you might rise to the
occasion and achieve your peak of spiritual excellence. If you
have done so willfully, I can only warn you of your plight. For
God will move on with His overcomers and you will be left
behind, one day to weep in outer darkness. Don't let that
happen.
If
any
of my born-again readers seems to have trouble grasping your
awareness of spiritual reality, may I kindly suggest the
possibility that you have never received the Lord's baptism
with
the Holy Spirit. This spiritual baptism after your
conversion is designed to "germinate" your seed of eternal life,
affording you an abundant fullness of spiritual awareness of the
Lord's Presence inside you.
Without
this
"clear channel" access to spiritual awareness, you will always
be held hostage to your native power of unbelief, facing
insurmountable "frequency bombardment and interference" from
your own thought life. This makes it exceedingly difficult (if
not virtually impossible) for you to live by spiritual awareness
as your consistent reference point for reality in any terms
other than and beyond conviction of sin. If you would like more
help with this, please write.
Finally,
to
those of you who are pressing on in faith—Keep on! If you have
special needs or burdens to share, especially those that appear
impossible to you and for which no one else will believe with
you, let me know. I would be glad to lift you up in prayer and
share the weight of your burden.
&&&&&&&&&&
It
has
been a great pleasure for me to write you this way, friends.
Perhaps by now you have noticed that I incorporated very few
scripture references in the body of this article. I did this
intentionally lest you were to “miss the forest for the trees.”
It is not that the scriptures do not witness to what I have
written or that this article is not squarely founded on the
Spirit behind them. It is for many of you, however, a problem to
get beyond your own mindset concerning scripture and I didn't
want to invite that kind of interference for you or for you to
lose the whole and consistent perspective of what I have said.
I
have tried to provide you an objectivity divorced from your own
mindset so you wouldn't be tempted to lose the perspective by
prematurely arguing with the scriptures I could easily present.
Nevertheless, I am including one brief appendix to give you
some examples from scripture of the difference between Reality
and reflections of reality as we perceive them through God's
oracles.
As
God
allows, I have already in my heart the beginnings of a related
article in which I want to discuss "What is the Word of
God?" In such an article, I want to really look closely at what
the Word of God is, what the scriptures are, and see where these
terms are synonymous and where
they are not. Should that article materialize, we'll look a lot more closely
at specific scriptures. Above all, we'll learn the difference
between what people say about the Bible and what the Bible says
about itself. I promise you, it will be fascinating, if not
thoroughly radical and controversial to what we have been taught
to believe.
But
for
today, I just wanted to lay a foundation for you without getting
bogged down in "proof texts.” (Those of you who really know the
scriptures and the Spirit behind them don't need any further
"proof.” You know that the things I have said are true and from
the Lord.)
I
also leave you with a small set of addendums beginning with a
list of definitions, spelling out the meanings of key terms as I
have used them in this article. Until we next meet, God
be with you.
Chris Anderson
written from Greenville, South Carolina
First Love Ministry
- a ministry of Anglemar Fellowship
http://www.firstloveministry.org
03/88
BACK TO TOP
Appendix A
Definitions
Reference
Point
For Reality
-
a
"compass" for the certain knowing of truth
Spiritual
Conversion
-
the
receiving
of a new, previously unknown spiritual awareness of the Presence
of God dwelling within the newly recreated inner being of man
through the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Possession of such awareness
of God is also called "eternal life" and is initially sensed
(experienced) in terms of an inward release from guilt for sins.
Experience
-
a
happening consciously perceived from outside one's own mind (as
opposed to an imagination, idea, or theory entertained entirely
from within one's own mind).
Spiritual
Experience
-
an
experience
intrinsically rooted in one's spiritual awareness which may or
may not find a sympathetic expression through the emotions
(soul) and / or body. Spiritual
conversion is a spiritual experience.
Living
by
Faith
-
the
commitment
to consistently appeal to internal spiritual awareness as a
Christian's final reference point for reality; the practical
outworking of life in response to inner spiritual awareness of
God's conviction, leading, and revelation.
Spiritual
Growth
-
the
capacity
for deeper and more diverse encounters with and entrance into
the Spirit of God through expanding of spiritual awareness. The
goal of spiritual growth is complete moral transformation into
the likeness of Jesus Christ. Spiritual growth occurs through
friction against and displacement of the native power of natural
understanding.
Spiritual
Pharisaism
-
attempting
to
live by two reference points for spiritual reality at the same
time (i.e., spiritual doublemindedness), esp. the attempting to
verify spiritual reality by natural understanding. When
expressed in evaluating testimony of others, it is marked by
hypocrisy. In its worst manifestation, Spiritual Pharisaism is
the misappropriating of the oracles of God to reinforce rather
than displace natural understanding as the final reference point
for reality.
Spiritual
Pharisee
-
one
who
attempts to verify spiritual Truth through intellectual study
and debate while claiming a personal testimony to spiritual
encounter with Jesus Christ.
Oracles
of
God
-
all
forms
of the Living Word of God which touch natural human perception
and are therefore reflections of Reality, but are not Reality
itself (does not apply to Jesus Christ who was Reality
Incarnate). Foundational written forms are the Scriptures.
Foundational spoken forms were the ministries of the first
apostles and prophets.
Spiritual
Idolatry
-
the
esteem
(worship) of the oracles of God as Reality rather than the means
to Reality. Spiritual idolatry is intrinsic to Spiritual
Pharisaism. In this context, the oracles of God are called
"stumblingblocks.”
Appendix B
Biblical Examples Distinguishing Reflection and
Reality
For the sake of help, someone might
like some examples from the Bible that illustrate the difference
between Reality and reflections of Reality pertaining to the
oracles of God. Let me offer three:
1.
John
the Baptist said, "I am
not that Light, but came to bear witness of that Light."
John realized that as a witness, he was only a reflection of the
One to whom he pointed. This did not mean that John was not from
God or that his message was not inspired. He was from God. His
message was inspired by God. Yet John could save no one, and no
one could be saved simply by hearing John's testimony. So it is
with the Scriptures.
2.
The
apostle Paul said that the Law was a "schoolmaster" to lead us
to Christ. Repeatedly Paul speaks of the Law in terms of a
reflection of Reality given to lead us to Reality, i.e., faith
in Christ through the
Spirit. So we see the same thing. The Law was given by
God. It was inspired. But merely reading the Law or hearing it
spoken with the natural ear did not save anyone. The Law was not
Christ.
Now
the
Law was the scriptures to that time. So this is a commentary on
the nature of all scripture. As then, so now. The New Testament
scriptures do not save anyone. They are not Christ. They only reflect Christ to us. A
man is saved when Christ enters his heart by the Spirit, not
because a man's natural eye reads John 3:16—even though his
reading of John 3:16 may be the means
through which Christ touches and enters the man's spirit.
3.
The
prophet Elijah recognized the difference between Reality and
reflections of Reality. On the mountain of Horeb, God gave
Elijah a display of wind, earthquake, and fire. God did all
these, but yet was not in them. These only reflected
His majesty. But then Elijah heard the still, small voice. This
was Elijah's contact with Reality,
causing him to worship. God was in His Voice. What do we
see here? The supernatural acts of God which manifest on the
visible plain only reflect Him. But access to God Himself is
only through intimate spiritual encounter (Reality).
This
introduces
us to another more complex form of Spiritual Pharisaism that
involves our turning to worship our own access to spiritual
reality and spiritual experiences for their own sake and as ends
in themselves. This kind of Pharisaism occurs among those who
have learned how to develop their capacity for spiritual
awareness but who then turn in heart to boast in what their
natural mind is still able to reflect of that awareness.
(Remember how we said that displacing trust in natural awareness
is a lifelong endeavor. This means we continue to have to deal
with its subtle deceptiveness and clamor for worship even though
we do succeed at developing our spiritual awareness against the
purely visible plain. No matter how far we develop spiritual
awareness, we always have to overcome the temptation to esteem
whatever our natural awareness is able to perceive of it.)
This
complex
Spiritual Pharisaism occurs in Pentecostal and charismatic
fellowships when people esteem God's supernatural displays of
power in this life (e.g., healings, miracles, fulfilled faith,
and answered prayers) in place of intimate spiritual
acquaintance with God. It also occurs when they esteem
their
natural perceptions of their spiritual revelations instead of
Him! (See how subtly deceptive this can get?)
By
the
way of contrast, please notice how neither Elijah, nor Jesus,
nor Paul were impressed either by the miracles that occurred
outwardly through them or by the revelations they received
through spiritual awareness. To them, natural perceptions of
these spiritual realities were still just reflections, not the Reality. The Reality was for them always found
in that Personal Intimate acquaintance with God Himself in their
hearts. But all their natural perceptions of these things,
whether natural things or spiritual things, were only ever
reflections to them. Really, this deeper aspect of Spiritual
Pharisaism deserves a complete
article
devoted just to it. Lord willing, such an article will be
forthcoming in the near future.
Appendix C
Answering the Charge of Gnosticism
Spiritual
Pharisees
sometimes resort to the charge of “Gnosticism” against any
believer who testifies to an experiential reality in the knowing
of God and His word by the Spirit (i.e., revelation knowledge)
beyond what the natural (carnal) intellect can apprehend off the
pages of scripture. This charge however is made in both
ignorance of what ancient Gnosticism was, as well as in personal
hypocrisy regarding the nature of conversion and what the
scriptures themselves say about the nature of spiritual
knowledge.
Gnosticism
is
sometimes inaccurately defined as any kind of knowing beyond
what the natural intellect may perceive. This can embrace
everything from simple intuition to psychic perception to divine
revelation. This however is a gross over-reach in definition,
not conforming to the meaning of Gnosticism as contested by the
first apostles, which contest forms the basis of the modern
Pharisee’s use of the charge.
An
accurate
historic in-context definition of Gnosticism is provided by,
among others, the Catholic Encyclopedia:
The doctrine of salvation by knowledge.
This definition, based on the etymology of the word (gnosis
"knowledge,” gnostikos, "good at knowing"), is correct as far as
it goes, but it gives only one, though perhaps the predominant,
characteristic of Gnostic systems of thought. Whereas Judaism
and Christianity, and almost all pagan systems, hold that the
soul attains its proper end by obedience of mind and will to the
Supreme Power, i.e. by faith and works, it is markedly peculiar
to Gnosticism that it places the salvation of the soul merely in
the possession of a quasi-intuitive knowledge of the mysteries
of the universe and of magic formulae indicative of that
knowledge. Gnostics were "people who knew," and their knowledge
at once constituted them a superior class of beings, whose
present and future status was essentially different from that of
those who, for whatever reason, did not know. A more complete
and historical definition of Gnosticism would be:
A collective name for a large number of
greatly-varying and pantheistic-idealistic sects, which
flourished from some time before the Christian Era down to the
fifth century, and which, while borrowing the phraseology and
some of the tenets of the chief religions of the day, and
especially of Christianity, held matter to be a deterioration of
spirit, and the whole universe a depravation of the Deity, and
taught the ultimate end of all being to be the overcoming of the
grossness of matter and the return to the Parent-Spirit, which
return they held to be inaugurated and facilitated by the
appearance of some God-sent Saviour.
However unsatisfactory this definition
may be, the obscurity, multiplicity, and wild confusion of
Gnostic systems will hardly allow of another. Many scholars,
moreover, would hold that every attempt to give a generic
description of Gnostic sects is labour lost.
From
this
definition it’s clear that Gnosticism did not during the
apostolic period refer to just any kind of knowing beyond the
awareness of human intellectual perception.
Use by spiritual
Pharisees of the generalized definition of Gnosticism is not
only ignorant, but hypocritical. This is because their own
testimony to conversion must embrace some level of spiritual
encounter with the Spirit of God, at the very least as
conviction of sin, which is an experience that transcends
apprehension by natural intellect. If they charge those who
testify to possessing and accessing spiritual revelation as
Gnostic, they must charge themselves with the same.
Moreover,
the
Bible’s own description of spiritual knowledge as a knowledge
beyond apprehension of the natural (carnal) mind (I Corinthians
2) means that the apostles themselves must be guilty of
Gnosticism. Thus the Pharisee’s own Bible is a Gnostic book.
In
view
of the foregoing, the charge of Gnosticism ought not be
dignified with any further response.
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