The Blessings and Cursings of Experiences

THE BLESSINGS AND CURSINGS 

OF EXPERIENCES

Our lives are filled with all kinds of experiences. Who can forget your first date, or your high school graduation, or seeing your first born child? Or who can forget being in an automobile accident, or watching as a loved one dies, or seeing a president shot? Our minds are literally packed with memories of events throughout our lives. Sometimes we even remember things we had long since forgotten. As you get older you will have that experience, believe me.

But then there are things that we learn that are factually true. We have never had the experience of walking on the Moon however we have learned about the Apollo space project. We never met George Washington but we know he was the first American president. We have never seen a cell but we have learned about them. So we are also filled with knowledge about which we have no personal experience.

But even though we have never seen a cell we still believe they exist. Why? Because we take the word of a teacher. Yes, we take that by faith. Some facts require greater faith while others seem reasonable. It is all a mixture of experience and facts. We trust that teacher, and our parents trust them as well, and so we just assume everything they teach is true. There are only a handful of people who have ever really seen a cell, so in effect we all are basing our faith on them.

But what if a teacher stands up and proclaims that there is no such thing as a cell, and that he has a new and more enlightened approach to physiology? What if that teacher says that we are made up of little particles that can be weaned away from their need of water, and that if we learn how we can eventually live forever just by gaining the knowledge of how to train these particles? But how does he know this? Because he has experienced it and he has redefined medical terms which offer a more expansive approach to the human body. In fact, this teacher acknowledges the input from doctors, but he strongly and persuasively directs everyone to move away from doctors since they are the knowledge of the past.

That sounds pretty goofy, right? How could we believe anyone could swallow that kind of craziness? But, sadly, that is exactly what is now happening in the Christian church including the evangelical wing. We now have well spoken men with some evangelical credentials standing before unbelievers and believers alike and teaching that what we have come to believe about Jesus, about salvation, and about the written revelation called the Word of God must be approached with a fresh insight. Men who call themselves emergent, and dominionists, and prophetic ministries, and latter rain, and manifest sons of God, and many other alluring titles are dismantling the faith by a clever amalgam of Scripture and experience.

Now anyone who has had no spiritual experience with Christ is either unsaved or has been trained to never have one. I, by God's amazing grace, have had many. I am sure some of you reading this have had some experiences as well. Have you been absolutely broken during a prayer meeting? Have you been in a public place and suddenly heard the inaudible voice of God in your heart? Have you been guided by the Spirit away from a situation you did not realize was there? Have you ever been worshiping the Lord Jesus and for some reason you are overwhelmed? I am sure most of us have had those gifts of God’s grace. But listen to Peter.

I Pet.1: ¹⁶ For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
¹⁷ For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
¹⁸ And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
¹⁹ We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
²⁰ Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

Just what is Peter saying here? He affirms that he had heard the voice of the Father blessing Christ Jesus as the Son of God. And he also affirms that they were eyewitness of His glory. Yea and amen! But he also says that in spite of those amazing experiences, we have a more sure word from God. Yes, Scripture is God’s final Word regardless of what experiences He may also give us by His grace. And the Scriptures are not unlocked by a select and private few. They are for every believer!

But no personal experience must ever find its way into what we believe. And every experience must be found completely within the teachings and parameters of God's written Word. And no one has any fresh revelation. All of us can have a fresh awakening and depth to the truths already revealed, but anything new is deception. So how do you get people to believe lies? How can normally intelligent people including people who know God’s Word succumb to such a colossal deception?

It begins with an open heart. Yes, a heart that is open to something new, and a mind that is not completely grounded in God’s Word. So when a person opens their heart and mind to someone teaching things that go against God’s Word, then deception has taken root. And so many times people are so shallow in the Word that they are not only susceptible to error, but they are seeking it. They desire something new and something that makes them feel first and think later. I am not suggesting our faith is without passion or emotion. But I am suggesting that when people are ignorant of the Word then they allow their emotions to identify truth rather than their study of the Word. Believers should experience tears and brokenness and joy and repentance and a myriad of emotions and personal experiences, however those experiences must emanate from Biblical truth rather than create it.

The second conduit for deception is usually an alluring and articulate personality. So many of the unbiblical offshoots begin with and spread through a person of interest. Men like Rob Bell or Rick Warren or Joel Osteen whose style or personality or smile or even their spiritual journey is much of the focal point are used as conduits for deception. People desire to hear something positive and new and applicable to their needs and wants. And people desire someone with whom they can relate and who lifts their spirits. Most times that person seems to have spiritual insights and communicative venues with God not afforded the common man.

And when you come with an open heart, and when the preacher or teacher is already someone you trust to reveal truth to you, then not only will there be no discernment, but you have become fertile ground for bad seed. Millions of people present their hearts and minds as willing recipients of all kinds of falsehoods and smooth sounding words. And when you add the imagery and air brushed technology of television and creative printed material, well you have an assembly line of deception.

This culture is built upon creating and enhancing people’s personal experience. The movies, the television, the theme parks, the music, and the advertisements are geared toward people’s experience. If it makes us feel good we want it. And if it makes us feel good then it must be good. And that cultural principle has made its way into the church and has now created a process for arriving at truth which is fundamentally flawed and in fact constructed after man’s desires and not God’s Word. It begins subtly and eventually builds error upon error until the entire spiritual structure is a honeycomb of falsehoods and error and worthless cultural rhetoric.

Even our church services are constructed to elicit positive vibes and see people leave feeling blessed and good. Emotions are not a by-product, they are the only product. Everything is neatly coordinated in order to have a pleasant experience that fits nicely into a formatted timetable. And the evangelical church has become very adept at this kind of ecclesiastical pursuit. In almost every community you can find a Sunday gathering that suits your taste. It’s like a Baskin Robbins of all kinds of church flavors.

But all of this points to a fatal flaw. Deception is not stagnant. It flows with all kinds of energy and it creates many diabolical tributaries that build upon its original source, and as Jesus said of the Pharisee followers, it makes some people twice as fit for hell. You see, brothers and sisters, this is no doctrinal game. This kind of deception that is being embraced today has eternal consequences for millions of sinners. Some of these lost sinners are being told they are alright with God, while others are being shown a false and deadly door through which to walk. People run after men and their experience and refuse to diligently study God’s Word.

Yes, there are those whose doctrine is orthodox who are without emotion or pathos toward the Lord Jesus and their relationship with Him. But once again I am not against emotion and spiritual experience, but that can never be the standard of truth. Emotion and passion and spiritual experience must flow out of Biblical truth and a relentless desire to know Him more fully and obey Him more completely. And I might add this: If you are saved and walking with Christ and never have any personal experience or emotion directly associated with your life of obedience, prayer, and worship, then I suggest you have never really received a true vision of your sin, and you certainly have never received a full revelation of the Risen Christ! Stand fully upon His Word and bow before Him with a surrendered heart and the experience you receive will be unspeakable and full of glory. We do not need more truth since we have all truth. We need that truth to have all of us.