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#35124 Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:05 PM
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Tom Offline OP
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I was wondering if anybody still has Charismatic friends.
Although I still have a few acquaintances that are Charismatic, the close friends I had when I was a Charismatic, also left the movement.

Tom

Tom #35125 Thu Feb 01, 2007 3:28 AM
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Apparently, i never HAD any friends when Charismatic - for once i left the movement, i never ever heard from any of them again; neither people i went to church with, nor the other ministry people i worked with for so many hours each week to run a campus ministry, nor any of the people with whom i used to drive so many miles to attend the latest "happening" church.

- too bitter? {Truthfully, that was somewhat of a relief since it wasn't until quite some time later that i was really able to (at all successfully) defend my jumping ship from charismania. But it was still a bit surprising}.

So no - no charismatic friends. A couple acquaintances who are still 'sort of' charismatic, hurt but not sure about fully abandoning thier pentecostal heritage, but no full-on charismatics.

- M.

Tom #35126 Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:38 AM
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Quote
Tom said:
I was wondering if anybody still has Charismatic friends.
Although I still have a few acquaintances that are Charismatic, the close friends I had when I was a Charismatic, also left the movement.

It has been my experience that not only do Charismatics leave the movement but they often leave Christianity altogether. This is much like ExRoman Catholics; after they discover the hypocrisy and depravity of the heretical sacramental system they leave the church or at least refuse further participation. Many feel and rightly so, that they have been used. Since they have been taught by the priests that the RCC is the "true church" they tend to believe that all Christianity is somehow like Rome and refuse any further study of the Scripture. IMO, the heresy is somehow infused or ingrained and this is exactly why the Charismatic (as well as the RCC) cult movement is so dangerous.

The only old "friends" that I know of from the Charismatics are now a very secular and worldly people. This is also why I believe that if there are Christians in the Charismatic movement (or the RCC) they're on their way out and will truely and permanently escape only by God's grace and the Scripture Alone.

Denny

Romans 3:22-24


Denny

Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." [John 6:68]
Arashi-dono #35127 Thu Feb 01, 2007 7:51 AM
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I still have friends in Charismania that think I've just settled for "head-knowledge-only" Christianity, which they find very distasteful. They wouldn't know I was a non-Charismatic if they saw me, though. I still close my eyes and raise my hands in worship; I get emotional when something in God's word gives me a glimpse of His majesty; I have all the passion and fervor I did as a Charismatic.

The difference is that now I get excited about His attributes and providence more than about my own feelings or this-or-that manifestation or event or circumstance. If you ask me, I think they are the ones who are settling for less than the fullness and best of Christianity.

I have lost touch with most of my old Charismatic friends. I know that some have rejected Christianity as "fake" and abandoned themselves to the world. I know that one has rejected church but supposedly not Christ. Two are now in PCA churches <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/bravo.gif" alt="" /> and a few remain in the formerly SBC Charismatic church we left which has become obsessed with finding and jumping into whater the "latest move of God" is. Having an adolescent need to be On the Cutting Edge of What God is Doing in the Earth Today, our former church literally competes with other Charismatic churches to show itself more "in tune with the Spirit" than it's neighbors.

<img src="/forum/images/graemlins/puke.gif" alt="" />

-Robin

Robin #35128 Thu Feb 01, 2007 10:44 AM
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Robin said:
...I have all the passion and fervor I did as a Charismatic.

The difference is that now I get excited about His attributes and providence more than about my own feelings or this-or-that manifestation or event or circumstance. If you ask me, I think they are the ones who are settling for less than the fullness and best of Christianity.

Hey that's great - i really like how you said that. In fact i think 'm gonna steal it! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/uptosomething.gif" alt="" />

Sometimes it's so hard to explain to people the difference between emotion and emotionalism.

- M.

Robin #35129 Thu Feb 01, 2007 2:54 PM
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Robin said:
I still have friends in Charismania that think I've just settled for "head-knowledge-only" Christianity, which they find very distasteful. They wouldn't know I was a non-Charismatic if they saw me, though. I still close my eyes and raise my hands in worship; I get emotional when something in God's word gives me a glimpse of His majesty; I have all the passion and fervor I did as a Charismatic.

Careful brother, there are some that frown on raising hands in worship <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/coffee2.gif" alt="" /> But I actually think that it is great that you do, though I rarely do it anymore.

Tom #35130 Sat Feb 03, 2007 4:53 PM
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I left my AoG church almost a year ago and now attend an OPC.

I have kept contact with a few of my friends from the old church but some of it has to do with my profession. You see, I'm a mechanic and one thing you don't want to lose is a friend who is a mechanic.<img src="/forum/images/graemlins/nope.gif" alt="" /> There is one lady from the old church that I have kept in close contact with though. The funny thing is that since I left the church and became reformed it seems she has gotten deeper and deeper into some of the more exotic stuff ie. banners, shofars, trips to the Toronto Blessing, wearing camo for spiritual warfare, ect. I have tried to show scripture to her but as Robin said she thinks I now have "head knowledge" only and am not as spiritual as her. I still keep in really close contact with her hoping that her eyes will be opened to the truth. Oh, one last thing,she is married.................to me.

I finally dawned on me yesterday that one of the real problems with Charismania is that it is totally based on feeling and emotions. In that paradigm feelings always trump scripture. That is an area that men cannot compete. So what happens is the men are never really seen as being as spiritual as the women and this usurps their authority in the church and more importantly in the home. God help us all.

Last edited by bassbum; Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:34 PM.
bassbum #35131 Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:12 PM
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I'm sorry to hear about your wife. It is difficult, I am sure, to see her slipping further and further into error like that.

I'm not sure that I understand the man/woman distinctive that you are drawing. In the churches that I attended, the men were the ones in charge of the church, and the women were treated lower than dirt--even had to wear only dresses and were not allowed to cut their hair or wear makeup or jewelry. The UPCI is different from a lot of Charismatic denominations, though.


"The good Christian should beware the mathematician" ~Augustine, De Genesi ad Litteram, II, xvii.37
Caroline #35132 Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:01 AM
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I have noticed in the various ExCharismata threads the type of church that you are describing, Caroline: long dresses, long hair, no jewerly, ect. That is nothing like my old church. In my opinion, it was male led but women driven. Most of the activities in the church revolved around women. Men's ministry never got off the ground. The only two ministries that men every participated in was building maintenance and sportsman's club (hunting and fishing).

bassbum #35133 Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:57 AM
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In both Charismatic SNC churches we went to, women were considered to be more "sensitive to the Spirit" than men. It always took longer for men to "get it" than the women for whom spiritual sensitivity was considered much more natural.

And since being "sensitive to the Spirit" is so important to being On the Cutting Edge of What God is Doing in the Earth Today (I know, I'll pro'lly overuse that phrase here but I'm so stricken by the arrogance of that mindset), our two Charismatic SBC churches tended to be "feminized" despite lip service to male headship. Women having to wait for the men to "get it" before going on ahead was thought to be God's dynamic for both churches and families, keeping the impulses of both genders in check.

I think that this "feminization" of the church is more apparent to folks who are many years removed from Charismania. It's rarely the reason anyone leaves the movement, but it's one of those things that you look back on and go, "Oh, crud. Was I really like that?"

It took me longer to see it (but then, being male, it's expected, right?), but a system built on and so dependent upon emotionalism just naturally tends towards femininity.

-Robin

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Yeah, in the AoG and TACF churches i attended it was almost taken for granted that there were going to be a lot more women in heaven than men - because the women 'went down' so much faster and spent so much more time weeping on the floor, and all us unfeeling men so often just stood round feeling embarased, wishing we could let go and be so 'spiritual.'

And though men were always 'officially' at the top of the hierarchy, it really was usually the women who were directing things - because of course, they were so much more in tune to the spiritual.

- Michael

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Hmmm ... that's interesting. At the UPCI churches, the women were considered the super-sinful ones, the men were all holy, except insofar as they were tempted by the evil women. Women weren't allowed to do hardly anything in ministry, except cook and clean.

There were a few exceptions to that. If a woman was really good at flattering the pastor, if she sidled up to him after the services and said in a breathy voice that he was a great man of God and that she just really felt the presence of the Lord around him--well, then suddenly, she was thought to be a great example of spiritual virtue, a positive Prov 31 model, the standard by which every woman in the church was measured.

If a woman disagreed with the pastor, then she was a Jezebel, a harlot, a witch, etc etc and everybody thought she was going to be the downfall of the church. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/rolleyes2.gif" alt="" />


"The good Christian should beware the mathematician" ~Augustine, De Genesi ad Litteram, II, xvii.37
bassbum #35136 Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:15 AM
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bassbum said:

Quote
I have tried to show scripture to her but as Robin said she thinks I now have "head knowledge" only and am not as spiritual as her. I still keep in really close contact with her hoping that her eyes will be opened to the truth. Oh, one last thing,she is married.................to me.

I will be praying for you and your wife.

But there is something else that came to mind as I read that.

While I believe for the most part what you said about head knowledge is certainly true.
I just thought I would mention something an old Pentecostal pastor once said during a much needed rebuke of the congregation.
He said (and with a lot of passion I might add):
Quote
I am a minister of the Word of God. However, do not ever believe something just because I said it. Believe it because the Word of God said it, I am just a fallible human, just like you!

If there was one thing that stuck with me all these years from my experience in the Pentecostal Church it was my pastor saying that.
What is ironic about him saying that is that unbeknown to him, that quote played a huge part into my eventual leaving the Charismatic movement.

I want to also say that although I disagree today with much of his theology. I did gain a profound respect for him, in that he lived what he believed.
I got to know him through the 3-4 years I attended there and found out that he spent a lot of time on his knees and in study of the Word of God, in fact he wore out a Bible a year.

Tom

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In the Pentecostal Churches that I attended, though what you talked about certainly occurred.
I also found that in many cases, men just didn't really want to get involved in anything that involved more than maybe ushering, maintenance and social things like going for coffee with the boys, or anything to do with food.
Many women on the other hand, were willing to attend Bible classes held by elders, attend prayer meetings etc...
But come to think about it, what I just described is generally what I have found to be the case in most non-Charismatic Churches I have attended since then.

Can men blame women for things like these?

Tom

Tom #35138 Tue Feb 06, 2007 9:39 AM
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Tom said:
I want to also say that although I disagree today with much of his theology. I did gain a profound respect for him, in that he lived what he believed. I got to know him through the 3-4 years I attended there and found out that he spent a lot of time on his knees and in study of the Word of God, in fact he wore out a Bible a year.

These are the saddest cases to me. I knew one Pentecostal preacher like this also. So sincere, so deceived. Unfortunately, sincerity doesn't mean that much, really. If someone is wrong, they are wrong, even if they are sure they are right. That someone can persist in being wrong while praying and reading the Bible isn't admirable--it just means they are stupid. I know, because I did just that for many years. I suppose I can excuse myself in that I was sincere, but I was without excuse--I had the Bible right there with me.

[color:"red"]Edited:[/color] Added "quote" tags. [Linked Image]

Last edited by Pilgrim; Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:32 PM.

"The good Christian should beware the mathematician" ~Augustine, De Genesi ad Litteram, II, xvii.37
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