Following Judah's Lion

The Experience Driven Paradigm

The folks at Lighthouse Trails Publishing graciously sent me a copy of a new book by Roger Oakland entitled “Faith Undone”. I highly recommend it for all students of the Word who wish to expand their perspective on what is taking place theologically inside the many mercurial movements of the church. The following article is the first one that I felt led to write after reading that fantastic book, and if you would like to order a copy you can contact the people at Lighthouse Trails at www.lighthousetrails.com. You will not be able to put it down.

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Way back in 1992, in a book entitled “A Church for the 21st Century”, Leith Anderson writes, “The old paradigm taught that if you had the right teaching, you will experience God. The new paradigm says that if you experience God, you will have the right teaching” (Leith Anderson, A church for the 21st Century, op. cir., p.21.). Read those two sentences again and with thoughtful understanding. What is the author saying? What are the implications of such a spiritual theorem? This new model of spiritual thought has vast and far reaching implications upon the way the church encounters and embraces truth, authentic and God given truth. As a matter of fact, those two sentences just may completely encapsulate the basic foundation of the emerging church in all its forms.

Leith Anderson is the former pastor of Doug Pagitt who is a leader in the emergent church and it is easy to see where some of Pagitt’s teachings originated. Anderson in the same book observes that “ However, Biblical theology looks to the Bible for a pattern of experience followed by proposition. The experience of the Exodus from Egypt preceded the recordings of Exodus in the Bible. The experience of the crucifixion, the resurrection, and Pentecost all predate the propositional declaration of those events in the New Testament. It is not so much that one is right and the other is wrong; it is more of a matter of the perspective one takes on God’s touch and God’s truth.” (Leith Anderson, A church for the 21st Century, op. cir., p.21.).

Basically what Anderson and others are postulating is that experience is truth. They are teaching that God can be experienced through the subjectivity of the senses first, and then the truth of that experience can be written down as authoritative. Now this is not a new phenomenon and it has occurred throughout church history, but this is the first time it has been openly recommended and taught as the paradigm for coming to truth itself. Many churches have taught that experience would substantiate Biblical truth, but few taught that experience uncovers truth. And with this form of spirituality we can come to a more complete understanding of just what is taking place in our midst, rapidly and with new vitality.

This experiential view of truth also has ramifications beyond the Christian church. Many emergent teachers believe that Moslems, Buddhists, Jews, and almost all religions have experienced God in a way consistent with the light that they possess presently. In conjunction with this view is spawned a doctrine that says that all faithful and genuine adherents to other religions will be saved in the end by God’s grace. You can see where this is going and the depth of the insidiousness of the deception, can you not? While we do not worship the written Scriptures we do hold them in unwavering faith, realizing that they have been given by the God whom we do indeed worship. When experience takes precedence over Scripture then experience actually becomes Scripture and with that we all are undone as Mr. Oakland observed.

But shouldn’t we seek to know and experience God as Christians? Oh yes, and most assuredly, we should and we must. Being content with only holding a dusty set of systematic theologies has its own liabilities and we must be prayerful and broken as we seek to know Christ more completely and more intimately. It may well be that the lack of that kind of spiritual journey of prayer and Biblical meditation contributed to the emergence of these new wayward paths. But seeking Christ on a spiritual path within the parameters of Biblical truth is a far different journey than creating one’s own experience and having those experiences remove, expand, and create their own parameters for what is true, and that is the ultimate “Lost in Space” doctrinal journey.
Let us not judge anyone’s heart or intentions, that is God’s business alone, and it will only have us deviate from the main issue at hand, truth. It may well be that good intentions and the winsome personalities and authenticity of some of the men in these movements are providing the most effective leverage for the spreading of unbiblical thought. I doubt that many would have gathered in a room and discussed the strategy on how best to deceive the church, no, most if not all fell into deception themselves. People can pass a lie detector test even while giving an inaccurate account of an accident because they do indeed believe the account they are sharing even though completely wrong. And so it is with most of these new teachers, so we must guard our hearts from bitterness and pride lest we too fall into a different kind of demonic snare while attempting to expose another.

As soon as Israel forgot the Words of God they were headed for idolatry and deception. We can recall that God’s people began to reject His Word and their commandments and after many warnings they were carried into Babylon as captives. Later upon their return to Jerusalem, Ezra found the Scriptures and as he read them the people wept in brokenness and repentance because they had neglected God’s Word. Most Jews never came back to Jerusalem because they had become comfortable and satisfied with their spiritual experience in Babylon and resisted the call from God’s Word to return. And so it is today. As westerners we live in an experience oriented society which lives and breaths new and exciting experiences. This kind of sensory lifestyle has infiltrated the church resulting not only in its practice but its embracement. An experience driven spiritual journey is much preferred to an experience derived from sacrificial discipleship built upon the Word of the Living God. God’s axe head has sunk and like Samson the church by and large doesn’t even know it’s missing.

The Deceiver is ever so cleaver and multi-pronged in his clandestine assault, while on one hand he deceives many into leaving the foundation of God’s Word for the experiential excitement of human senses, he at the same time attempts to deceive us from the sacredness of prayer and fasting and meditating upon the things of the Lord. Let us not reject that which is Biblical and edifying because of their misuse by others. As a matter of fact, we should in these last days spend more time than ever in our prayer closets with our Wonderful Lord, seeking His face, interceding for others, and beseeching Him to change us into His image. We who speak correction to others must indeed speak it to ourselves as well. And without that kind of intimate spiritual servanthood we become as sounding brass and tinkling cymbal, without the compassion and spiritual power to effectively call our brethren away from idolatry.

And let us not eschew spiritual experience ourselves because others have made it their standard. No, when the Word of God is our foundation God can and does graciously provide us with some spiritual experiences that can go beyond human words. The great Christians of years gone by give passionate narratives of personal times of refreshing that experientially substantiate the Scriptures, not supersede them. We do not seek experience, we seek Christ, but we certainly do not resist what God in His wisdom has for us. Experience is not our main course, but it is sometimes our dessert.

This new experience loaded Christianity is moving more and more to eastern mysticism and many teachers envy and even emulate the practices of the eastern religions. Read how the children of Israel worshiped the idols of the heathen and took their practices as their own and you will see history repeating itself. Christ is not enough, redemption is not enough, heaven is not enough, the Word is not enough, and just like the children of Israel the church has received the bountiful gifts from God and still is unsatisfied. Like a wild ass she has sniffed the air and smelled the odor of other flocks, and instead of leaving her own field completely she has invited the beasts of the heathen to join her and has filled her troughs with God’s food flavored with the food of the heathen. And this new “mixed” food tastes so fresh she is uninterested in its spiritual nutrition and value, it feels and tastes good and with that the church is satisfied.

I will write more concerning these things, but I still strongly urge you to get the book “Faith Undone” by Roger Oakland. The Spirit might use it to compel you further into a love for God’s Word and a corresponding spirit of discernment.