Many of our readers (and contributors) will remember being ‘baptised in the Spirit’, speaking in tongues, having visions of Jesus, going through fire tunnels, seeing people ‘healed’ and may have even claimed the ‘anointing’ to slay people in the spirit. And we are honest enough to admit to it.
Now we would be the first to say that it was all a sinful delusion. We were told to yield, to submit, to hunger and ‘be filled’ so we could obtain the ‘fullness of God in our lives’ – and it was spiritually exhausting. As you study the scriptures you realize that what a lot of Christians submit to is not the Holy Spirit. Instead we were submitting to carefully constructed and heavily orchestrated suggestions by false teachers and hirelings.
And it’s not just a false environment that’s been constructed to seduce people, it’s also the foundational Charismatic/NARismatics theology.
Mark Virkler is one such person who first introduced the ChurchWatch contributor of this article to hearing God speak back in the late 1990s. At the time, this ‘churchwatcher’ was impressed with Virkler’s teaching and was drawn into ‘hearing’ God, particularly through ‘journaling’ (keeping a journal that explores thoughts and feelings in order to get directions from God). And this ‘churchwatcher’ (who at that time was ‘deemed’ a seer and a prophet often told to share their visions), believed they could cast out demons, slay people in the spirit, heal people and create prophetic art the like of which you will often see promoted today at Bill Johnsons’ Bethel movement. And in light of the Charisma Magazine article below, it’s interesting to note that this ‘churchwatcher’ was never ‘slain in the spirit’! Even though deeply desiring it, attempting every form of spiritual practice and being incredibly ‘right-brained’ – this ‘churchwatcher’ could not be ‘spiritually slain’.
Which brings us to the Charisma Magazine article.
Mark Virkler, acknowledges that ‘left-brainers’ like him do not fall under the power of the spirit. ‘Right-brained Churchwatcher’ above is proof that this is false?
Virkler claims that “the Holy Spirit is a gentleman and doesn’t force Himself upon you” but this is simply the Charismatic (NARismatic) excuse to manipulate you into believing a lie so that you can have a false ‘fullness of the Spirit’ in your life. The idea that God would never violate what people want to do is something that is repeated so often that many Christians simply accept it as a biblically supported fact. But is it?
As is typical in the NARismatic cults, they attempt to convince their followers that the way God wants to move through you is by ‘mindless’ practices. In this case, Mark Virkler comes dangerously close to pushing a form of New Age visualisation technique and yoga-like positioning. By ‘switching [his] internal posture’, Virkler explains how he visualises Jesus so he can become ‘weak at the knees’ to then be slain in the spirit’.
God Himself has deliberately contained His voice in the scriptures – and it’s Mark Virkler’s impressions, suggestions or formulas that lead people, quite naturally, into demonic practices. What was the point of Virkler writing this? If the Spirit of Truth in a believer gives them a sound mind to embrace sound doctrine, what would Satan offer? The opposite.
Frankly, Virkler is a weak-willed man, insecure in his faith, being thrown about by every wind of doctrine in his attempt to find something to make him feel that he’s close to God. The scriptures speak of men like Virkler going from bad to worse, God finally handing them over to the delusions of their mind. Virkler isn’t truly seeking God. We see his idolatry in his pursuit of ‘divine experiences’.
He states – “Now I don’t need to be the one left standing as others go down under the power of the Spirit. I can join the party, too. And who doesn’t want to be part of a Holy Ghost party? Since a merry heart is good medicine, I choose the party (Prov. 17:22). I choose fun and thankfulness and gratitude. I choose to set aside my thinking for a bit and just enjoy His presence. It’s a nice change. It’s a refreshing experience.”
He can have his drunken glory party, we’re choosing Christ and His table. We hope you choose the latter as well.
Mark Virkler writes: “When talking to the leadership team at Catch the Fire in Toronto, they confirmed that when they pray for people, not everyone is slain in the Spirit. For those who don’t know, being slain in the Spirit is falling over (generally backward), when someone is in front of you praying for you. The understanding is that the Holy Spirit is coming upon them and this weakens them so they fall down, and then normally they rest under the Spirit’s power as they lay on the floor and He ministers to them.
My questions was: “Is it the left-brainers who don’t get slain in the Spirit?”
They paused and thought for a moment and then said, “Yes, it is the left-brainers who don’t fall down.” Read more here:
For further reading on this topic: http://www.letusreason.org/pent14%20.htm
“When experience replaces Biblical knowledge, we have abandoned God’s standard. Knowledge can be painful when it corrects us, but it can cost much more to follow falsehood, which by its nature is easy to swallow and soothing to those who refuse the truth.”
Also addressed in the latest Polemics Report July 19, 2018:
Email all comments and questions to c3churchwatch@hotmail.com
Categories: Uncategorized