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Adopted said:

I suggest that this craving for more and more extra-scriptural revelation by the Charismatics is nothing more than unbelief in the Lord and the words of Scripture in the first place. Jesus met this same unbelief and demand for "signs" with these words.

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39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. [Matthew 12:39-41]

Jesus does not give them the sign they demand but refers them to the Gospel and to the Scripture!

I also suggest that the Charismatics are one and the same as the rebellious Israelites wandering in the desert, for whom the pure manna from heaven was not good enough. [Numbers 11:4-6]

Moreover, the charismatic's continual quest for greater emotional experiences is really no different than what we see in the broader society. Think of how men turn to not only drugs but also entertainment in order to stimulate their emotions in one direction or another. To this the charismatic may say, "Yes, non-Christians do seek after transcendent experiences in many ways that seem to resemble our way, but think of counterfeit money: no one would be fooled by it unless it bore a resemblance to something of real value. Likewise, the effects of drugs, alcohol, etc., are a counterfeit of the benefits I enjoy from the Holy Spirit." As a charismatic I found this type of argument to be convincing, but is it really?

Are you so certain, Mr. Charismatic, that the experiences which you attribute to the Holy Spirit are so different than Mr. Worldly Man's experiences? I'm sure you will find a Bible text here or there to "confirm" your experiences, but please ask yourself whether those experiences have truly brought you closer to Christ and the Scriptures or whether they have merely intensified your thirst for more experiences. If your zeal to convince non-charismatics to "receive the baptism" is greater than your zeal to win sinners to Christ, could it be that your love of emotional highs is greater than your love for Christ? Moreover, we ought to be very careful before we attribute emotional highs to the Holy Spirit. Bear in mind that the Holy Spirit is God of very God, so to attribute works to Him that He has not performed is to take His name in vain at the very least! The same danger attends us when we claim that "God told me" this or that when in fact God had said no such thing.

Mr. Charismatic, search the Scriptures, and see how God has dealt with His Elect throughout history. Whenever He spoke to His people, He did so in a way that made it clear beyond any reasonable doubt that God Himself had spoken. Whenever He performed great and wonderful works, His people were driven not to seek after more signs and wonders; instead, they exhibited a greater inclination to fear God and obey His Word.

To this Mr. Charismatic may say, "But I've experienced such peace and joy since I received the baptism!" So did Mr. Drug Addict when he first sampled the narcotic that now ensnares him, and so did Mr. Baseball Nut when his team won the World Series. The fact is that men can experience wonderful emotions for all sorts of less-than-transcendant reasons. If your emotional experiences have truly drawn you closer to Christ alone and the Scriptures alone, I rejoice with you, but if your spiritual life is typified by a continual craving for more and greater experiences, and your zeal is spent on persuading others to take on such a craving for themselves, I pity you for your spiritual poverty.

The Holy Spirit isn't in the business of hooking spiritual addicts on Himself. Quite the contrary: His business is to draw sinners to Christ.

Dave