CHARISPHOBICS AND CHARISMANIACS

You might say there are two extremes that people fall into when they talk about walking in the Spirit. On the one hand, the Holy Spirit is seen as an almost mechanistic, or purely theoretical, non-experiential being. He secretly regenerates us when we are baptized, and He indwells us, but we cannot feel Him or know Him, except for reading and knowing our Bibles. This is the tradition in which I grew up. It is a reactionary position, trying to avoid the abuses of the charismaniacs. You might call it the charisphobic position. When you read your Bible, you have the Holy Spirit. Period.

A variation of that camp is the mechanistic liturgical camp. The Holy Spirit is the symbol of anointing oil, or a candle, or the Eucharist, or the recited prayer. It is based on the doctrine of objective efficacy, which says that whether or not I have faith, if the right act is done and the right words are said, we can be sure that the Holy Spirit was present and doing His work.

A charisphobic position seems to be safe, because it protects us from abuses of the charismaniacs, but it is ungodly, fleshly and unspiritual. Charisphobics have what Paul described as a form of godliness, but such people deny its power. There may as well not be a Holy Spirit in the daily life of a charisphobic.

On the other side of the spectrum are the charismaniacs. These people have a very subjective, pietistic, and experiential view of things of the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit is the moment of true regeneration for them, and it may or may not have anything to do with water baptism. The Spirit works through continued revelation, giving the same signs and wonders and wishing to communicate as much today as He did 2000 years ago. Daily He leads in a mysterious, to some, nearly audible voice.

Charismaniacs see it as a satanic attack when their car won’t start. They wake up in the morning and say, “Jesus, do you want me to go to work today, or not?” They listen so much for God’s voice that they are of no earthly good. I had a friend who said he heard audibly from God. One of the things God told him is to sell his car in order to buy a sound system, and then to rent a car in order to get around. After two weeks, he couldn’t afford to return the car, because he didn’t have enough money, so he kept it and prayed for God to supply what He had promised. He bought the sound system to do a concert, and God told him to hold it outdoors. So by faith he obeyed, in spite of the weather report, and all that equipment he had bought got rained on. Now I'll ask you: Do you think that was God’s voice he was hearing?

In my own life, I grew up in the charisphobic tradition, and then my pendulum swung the other way to become something of a charismaniac myself. Having discovered that God still wants to communicate with us today, I tried to obey the Bible and constantly walk in the Spirit, doing nothing in the flesh.

I heard testimonies from people that they were on their way home and heard a prompting to turn left at a particular street and walk up to a house and give the stranger who lived there a large amount of money, and that person had just been praying for God to supply a genuine need in that exact amount. I wanted to be open to moments like that.

There was a time when I was on my way home, and I felt led to pick up a hitchhiker. I took that person home and shared Jesus with him on the way. And though my grandmother had made dinner for us and she had to wait almost an hour with cold and dried out hamburger patties, I excitedly told her about my experience. The next day, I’m driving home and asking, “Which way do I turn at this intersection, Lord? Left, right, straight? I’m waiting on you to tell me. Are you saying left? No, right? Save gas and follow the normal path?”

My epiphany came one morning when I was listening for the Spirit’s voice after showering. I stood in front of the antiperspirants, a spray kind and a stick kind, asking the Lord which one I should use today. The spray, you know, destroys the ozone layer. So maybe use the stick. But if I never use the spray, it will rust and the fluorocarbons will be released anyway. So maybe I should go ahead and finish this can first. What are you saying, Lord? One under each arm? Suddenly the light dawned: God was not in the business of dictating to me what kind of antiperspirant to use. If he were speaking to me, he would say, “Just put something on so you don’t stink and get out there and do My work!”

I was using the Holy Spirit as an excuse for being indecisive, which I have a tendency to be, if you didn’t notice. I think I’m indecisive, anyway. Maybe not so much as some people. Well, in some areas I do okay, but often I am more comfortable having circumstance, or the Voice of God Himself tell me what to do, rather than make a decision that could be wrong.

I am convinced that the Spirit works today in some mysterious, indefinable, but experiential way today, but finding a balance has been a challenge for me.