The Difference Between "Pentecostal" And "Charismatic"

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On Tue, 20 Aug 1996 17:01:24 -0500, you wrote:


>THAT explains it! See, I was born in a charismatic church. It happened just as above. Mary, my counselor, took 
>me to a room, sat me down, read me all the scriptures about speaking in tongues, then told me to repeat the 
>gibberish she was speaking. I thought she was absurd.
>
>Meanwhile, a true Christian had been feeding me real meat. When Mary said, "Repeat what I say", I tuned her 
>out, turned to Jesus, who *untamed* my tongue!
>
>Others in the room stopped talking when I spoke in tongues, as if they were surprised. NOW I know why.

Unbelievable.. Well, the church that I was born in left the faith and
became "charismatic" only a few months after I received the Holy
Ghost. God tossed us in the little reed boat, and the course was
strange from time to time.

Bypassing many details, I did eventually come to an understand of what
we were, and the constancy of truth, and then realized that there were
many who believed and experienced this precious truth.

After 10 years (almost to the day) we were called to the same town,
restore and build the work of God. However the church was now fully
into a decadent and dim path. The original life of God was completely
gone.

Among the first people God called us to minister to was a family which
had come along after I left (though I was coincidentlly present when
they were baptized in Jesus' name in a nearby town). They had become
discouraged over a number of years, and stopped attending church. Now,
we started a Bible study in the home. It has been over a year. 

One of the saddest things we found and most heart rending is that K,
the daughter is now in college. She was baptized and age 12 or so, in
that church. They had told her about receiving the Holy Ghost but as
we hear the story now, they taught the class to say certain words to
"get them going".. After a few strange noises, they were told, yes:
You have the Holy Ghost now. However, to accomodate a crowd of church
hoppers from other nearby charismatic groups, they had quickly
withdrawn from the recognition of tongues as the exclusive evidence of
the Holy Ghost baptism. (Evidently, they had taught them to operate in
a "prayer language".)

Now, 8 years later, we find a young lady still desperately hungry for
God, and confused. She had been programmed against the idea of "sign
evidence", but she still felt that something was missing. Of course,
her parents had told her "You are ok if you just love God", as their
spiritual condition was derived from the church as it fell rapidly
from truth.

Last Tuesday evening, K came to service in our living room. As the
preaching escalated the presence of God filled the room. An alter
service exploded into powerful spiritual activity, and we see quite K
on her knees weeping profusely, praying with the other ladies.

Afterwards, I knew that she had been shaken, and impressed by the
glory of God. Sometimes people cannot distinguish their emotions from
what God was doing afterwards. I told K, "If you are going to have a
real experience with the real God, it is going to be the experience of
*power*. You may receive something particular for your personal need,
and indeed will, but you WILL be impressed that God is powerful, and
does not need us to help Him to do what he wants to do with you. That
is why surrender is SO important. God will not hurt someone seeking
Him, so unless they surrender and respond He must withold lest they be
broken by his hand. The true God is a God of sings and wonders and
power. He likes to show you His strength"

Teaching someone to speak in tongues!!!! I couldnt believe it, but
this precious young lady, and thousands like her are being ripped off
every day by false prophets and janglers who are causing serious
damage to their understanding by distorting the truth of the Word.

We need to reach them TODAY, without reservation.

-mwb