Do you attend a Charismaniac Church? Mark Driscoll is here to help!

I know, this headline is definitely communicating… it’s a massive attack (to quote a band).

I have to say, before I “unleash the hounds,” and pass on the “red meat,” I must affirm, with unequivocal frankness,  that I am a fan of “the modern day mouth on Mars Hill.”

As my alien residence is in New Zealand, my experience of the man is only  through various media avenues, nevertheless,  my perception is that, in this “war of the world”- views that we are in, he would be one individual that I would like to go to war with… if you know what I mean.

One of the areas that I have been graced with from Mr. Driscoll has been his expository preaching, and recently I have started listening to the spiritual gifts portion of Mark Driscoll’s series on 1st Corinthians titled, Christians Gone Wild… the mind could well and truly boggle!

You may not realize this, but Mars Hill holds to what they have called, a Charismatic with a seat-belt position on spiritual gifts, which means that they believe all the gifts are available this very day, even the  so-named “sign gifts.”

However, functionally there is a distinction between this position and the more normative charismatic expression.

As part of his first message in this series, Driscoll outlines the four positions held by Christians on this subject… Introducing (1)  Mr. Cessationist, (2) Mr.  Charismatic with a seat-belt, (3) Mr.  Charismaniac, and (4) Mr. Pentecostal.

As I have indicated, there is a distinct practical difference between the Mars Hill position versus what he has termed the Charismaniac position.

I will let Driscoll speak for himself as he explains what he believes is the crucial factor that under girds this practical differentiating distinction:

…[functionally, they tend to have] a lower view of the Bible.  Now they wouldn’t say that some times, but the way it works is this; that contemporary revelation is in effect equal to Bible.  I saw this on Christian television, which I occasionally watch when I am feeling happy and want to ruin my mood.  I turned it on, and I saw this total wing-nut get on there, and he got on and held up his Bible and said, “This is the Word of God,” and put it down.  Then he said, “and now I’m going to give you the Word of God,” and he just prophesied and spoke for a while, and I thought, “no way in the world.”  That guy just said he and the Bible are equal.  We do not believe that is right?  I looked in the concordance, and that dude is not in the book, he is not in the book.

Right, we believe that the Bible is the Supreme Court, it’s the highest authority.  We love the Bible, we don’t hold anything above the authority of the Bible, which means, if you say you’re a prophet, we test you by the Bible, and your prophesy .  If you say you have tongues, we test how you function in your prayer language, or in your prophetic utterance, according to the Bible.

The Charismanic position is one where there is sort of an abuse of spiritual power, someone saying, “I am God’s anointed, and I speak for God, put your Bible down and listen to me.”  That is how you start a cult, right, that’s where in the end, everyone is wearing white shoes and drinking kool-aid, and it doesn’t go so well, you don’t want to go there.

I think understanding the point that Driscoll makes also explains why the renaissance of a Reformed position that is also charismatic is practically achievable, because, functionally, the significance and position of the Word of God in a real and practical sense has remained the same.

The result being that the charismatic question is unburdened of the considerable baggage of the bigger issue, which is the question of the centrality of the Word of God in the life of the church and believer.

I think this also helps to remove some/ much of the heat in this debate and helps to negate the thinking process where one equates holding a charismatic position with a reduced practical commitment to the Word of God, which both limits the extent, and therefore significance of this issue and negates the charismatic issue from being a proxy test of an individuals commitment to the Word of God.

With the table now well and truly set, Driscoll, in his inimitable style, in a rather tongue-in-cheek style affirms four things that will identify if you are in a charismaniac church.

The first is if the husband and wife are co-Pastors and she has big hair and looks like she lost a paint-ball gun war, ha, ha, that’s a good line right there; and he has a charis-mullet hair cut.  Now the charis-mullet hair cut is somewhere between the soccer-rocker and the achy-breaky-bad-mistakey.  It’s somewhere in the middle.  It usually has feathered bangs [what?] and a little flap in the back, and it is usually accompanied with a goatee.

So, if they’re co-Pastors and she has big hair and looks like she lost a paint-ball gun war and he has a charis-mullet hair cut and is wearing a white suit, you’re probably in a charismaniac church.

Secondly, when the Pastor smacks people on the head and they fall to the ground and flop like a perch on a dock, you’re in a charismaniac church for sure.

Thirdly, if the name of the church includes any of these words, Holy Ghost, Anointed, Revival, Dominion, Latter-Rain, Fire, or Shekinah Glory, then you are officially in a charismaniac church.

And, if there’s a lot of flames, like on the church van, on the building, if there’s a lot of flames, you’re in a charismaniac church.  Definitely not a Presbyterian church.  You will not find flames on a Presbyterian church, you’re in a charismaniac church.

And then fourthly, on your way in for worship, if they hand you a praise flag or a tambourine with ribbons on it and there’s deacons there to stretch you out so that you don’t pull a hamstring, you’re in a charismaniac church.

Now, I thought that was quite humorous, and definitely worth a good chortle or two.

I encourage you to visit here and check out the whole series for yourself and much other good quality material from the Mars Hill Media library.

That’s enough from me…

Until Next Time

I am Jonny King