Pacesetters Bible School Newsletter

Update: Before you follow the advice of this post and “check it out,” please consider this post on my personal blog, based on later information. I would note that this is still based on both second-hand sources and a YouTube video–I have not been to Lakeland. I do not take back any specific recommendation as a whole, but I do add the caution that you should consider the potential danger in this violent form of ministry before becoming involved. “Having someone pray for you isn’t dangerous” needs to be modified in the light of the possibility of someone kicking the person who is prayed for.

This little catchphrase from the show Lost in Space is often used as a warning that someone is about to do something stupid and dangerous. I want to apply it in a slightly different way. I believe many Christians have a little robot voice in their heads that yells “Danger!” in almost all cases of spiritual adventure.

I noticed this in the response to the Brownsville Revival here in Pensacola, and I’m also noticing it in the response to the Lakeland Revival. I’ve written a few things about this, and I also notice that much of what I’ve written is read as a warning away from the revival. That is not my intent at all.

There are two major approaches to a spectacular revival outpouring which should be diligently avoided. The first is an unthinking acceptance of everything said. I don’t mean someone deciding that the revival is a good thing and encouraging people to go, receive prayer, and so forth. I mean that people assume that everything that goes on and everything that is said by anyone related to the outpouring is great. Any questioning of any portion is viewed with deep hostility, and the questioner is relegated to the company of the critics. Critics are in serious danger of blaspheming the Holy Spirit if they haven’t done so already.

The second is the view that one can check off a list of doctrinal positions. liturgical practices, or simply “happenings” that are viewed as dangerous, and dismiss the revival activity simply on that basis. This is often done by someone who hasn’t actually seen the particular revival in action, and actually knows very little of the position of the leaders. This is what I call the “Danger, Will Robinson!” approach.

The danger in both of these approaches is the same. The individual believer cuts off discernment and replaces it with a simplistic dependence on what others have said or a checklist that others have concocted. It suggests that claims of God’s presence are inherently dangerous, and only the very foolish will seek them out and desire to be involved. It is this second attitude that I want to discuss today. What led me to this discussion was a fair amount of reading on the web, and some personal conversations. I wondered why cautions that I write are often read as reasons not to have any involvement with Lakeland. That is not what I intend.

What I do intend is that if you are so called, you experience what God has to offer in a particular set of circumstances, but use your discernment to separate the human from the divine. The cautions are much more for how you apply what you learn and receive in your life than they are warning flags about getting involved at all. I’m puzzled a bit by the fear of the experience. Go to any spiritual experience with the intention to prayerfully consider what you hear and experience keep the good and discard what is either not applicable to you or even evil.

God speaks truth, but it is limited, sinful people who hear and who pass it on. You and I are limited, sinful people. We may not hear everything correctly. What would you regard as the best possible way to prevent people from experiencing God’s presence? Would it not be to make them afraid, to make them think it was not the genuine article? Think how simple that would be. One false claim of healing, one action that was unwise, one statement that is in error or questionable, and there are grounds for questioning–if we’re working that way. How many pastors can claim a year of activity in their churches without falling afoul of one of these things?

I posted some of my cautions here. Now let me give some cautions about cautions!

• When I caution about physical manifestations, that goes both ways.
  Don’t assume that physical manifestations, or even genuine observed miracles indicate how active the Holy Spirit is. Consider Acts 12. James is beheaded and Peter is put in prison. God miraculously rescues Peter. Was the Holy Spirit more present when Peter was rescued from prison than when James suffered martyrdom? People who are disturbed by the physical manifestations, such as being slain in the Spirit (or falling out under the power), like to hear cautions about physical manifestations, but it is very easy to make the same mistake in the other direction. Do you assume that because there are physical manifestations, including things you would rather not see happen, that God is not present?
• Having someone pray for you isn’t dangerous.
  I know there are people who disagree, who believe that having someone pray for you if that person is not spiritually on the right track might get you troubled by demons or whatever. I think God is more competent than that. If you’re considering going to Lakeland or some other revival and having someone pray for you, do it! If you decide afterward that something wasn’t right, put that in God’s hands. I don’t feel called to go that far out of my way, but if I encounter someone who has received prayer there and there is an occasion to have them pray over me, I most certainly will take the opportunity, irrespective of my theological position (hardly set in stone!) on impartation.
• Prayerfully seek and then trust God’s guidance.
  Peter Kirk wrote recently about the right and need for believers to use their own discernment. I agree with the key point he is making. Just because you are not an expert does not mean that you cannot make an informed decision. The experts will disagree, leaving you no other option! One of my professors, Dr. Alden Thompson, has concluded that scholars have intimidated ordinary church members to the point that many are afraid to study and interpret the scriptures for themselves. Neither he nor I (nor Peter Kirk) are opposed to expertise. But expertise doesn’t eliminate the need for individuals to make prayerful decisions.

My intention here is to make it clear that caution should not become avoidance. One can miss a great deal spiritually by refusing to experience some new thing. For some reason, when people do things that appear foolish at a ball game or a concert, we think it’s funny; when people do something similar in church we regard it as dangerous. Personally, I’m the quiet sort. I don’t paint myself in team colors for ball games, and I’m pretty quiet in church. But I’ve been to some noisy services, ones that would cause concern, shall we say, to my more intellectual friends, colleagues, and neighbors. I don’t let it stop me.

My suggestion is to change the motto “Danger, Will Robinson!” to “Check it out!” See what happens!

(Those who want some notes from someone who has been there might want to check out this post on my Threads blog, which includes a letter from Rev. Perry Dalton, whom many of you know.)