Friendly Revival or a Man-Made Movement?

I read the following article in Charisma magazine today and it left me disturbed in my spirit. Charismatic, Pentecostal Influencers Talk of Friendly Revival The first sentence of this article is one HUGE oxymoron, and yet it is what the American Pentecostal church has been trying to do for a long time.

Converge21 (C21) recently brought together leaders, pastors, educators and next-generation thought leaders to collaborate on the future of the Spirit-empowered (a.k.a. Pentecostal or charismatic) movement in the United States.

This is also the reason why we are failing.

Collaboration of Man

Collaborating means to “work together”. We have fallible man “working together” on the future of a “Spirit-empowered” movement.

Do you see the irony here?

Can we “work together” with the Holy Spirit? Sure, if we follow the Word of God!

But here’s the problem. We profess the desire to follow the Holy Spirit, but in our actions we follow man-made programs, time-sensitive schedules and politically-correct ideologies.

What Jesus is Introduced?

Another thing that stood out to me was a quote from the E21 Executive Director, Billy Wilson.

The goal is: “That every person on earth would have an authentic encounter with Jesus Christ through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit by Pentecost 2033.”

These are noble words. But he needs to ask himself, “What ‘Jesus Christ’ is being introduced?”

• If we introduce the anglo-saxon, blue-eyed Jesus with the baby sheep under his arm (and the little fat baby angels circling overhead), we’re introducing the wrong Jesus.
• If we introduce a Jesus that winks at your sin, we’re introducing the wrong Jesus.
• If we introduce a Jesus that basically contradicts everything His Father established before Him, we’re introducing the wrong Jesus.

I don’t care if everything “feels” great. I don’t care if they say the “sinner’s prayer”. If introducing people to the Messiah doesn’t produce heartfelt repentance, a hatred for sin, and a love for the things “above” …. it’s not Jesus.

Look around at the Pentecostal church (as well as the rest of our modern-day church). Are they worshiping the Jesus of the Bible, or an idol of their own making?

As much as I would like to believe this giant “collaboration” is going to further the Cause of Jesus Christ, I don’t see it happening. It’s just a huge group of men with degrees trying to find new ways to orchestrate their own wills over the Will of the Father.

For the Love of the Search,

Kevin Kleint
Email: kevin@honorofkings.org

Print PDF