Our faith should be grounded in what we have been told by God in His Word; not what we feel through our experiences.

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But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions."It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. - Jude 1: 17-19 (ESV)

The lights are dim. The smoke from the smoke machine starts to waft through the sanctuary. The drum beat grows louder to almost a deafening pitch. Sappy piano strokes or guitar riffs fill the background noise out. The entertainers on stage are all dressed in the latest fad of ripped skinny jeans and rolled up flannels; exposing their tattoos. The lead female worship leader is rolling around on the ground, laughing almost demonically. Engaging in a faux conversation with Jesus. The lead male is mumbling something about God sending rain down on a barren land. The hipster pastor dude is wading through the congregation, laying hands on anyone and everyone. Sputtering sentence fragments over them and pushing them down ever so noticeably into the waiting arms of someone from the "altar ministry." You can't quite hear what the pastor dude is saying but apparently there is some kind of "shift" going on that requires for everyone to "go deeper." The female lead is now shouting that she is soaking! Soaking in the presence! The male lead starts to invite people to jump into the river if you love Jesus. Strange clouds of gold glitter start to emanate from the ventilations system"I mean heaven. The pastor dude stops and tells everyone to embrace the glory cloud as he shows them gem stones he claims have just "supernaturally" appeared. Soon the scene is utter chaos. Bodies strewn all over the floor. Worship leaders pretending to be caught in a downpour. Uncontrolled laughter mixed with gibberish. Suddenly random people start laying hands on each other while others approach an open microphone to "prophesy" over the people. The prophecies are always vague and never have anything to do with Scripture. It is not about Scripture. It is not about the Bible. It is all about the experience. This emotionally driven, theologically vacuous display is passed off as a "spiritual experience." The pastor will rave about it next week before his sermon. The people will swear there was such an "anointing" and that it was a true move of the Spirit of the Lord. None of it however will be true.

This deception is not creative fiction. It is what is occurring across this country in many churches today. Just catch a service from IHOP or Bethel Church in Redding California. Just catch the latest heretical movie, "Holy Ghost." The cry from these people are always the same. The church is trying to place God in a box - you need relationship! It sounds so good to the itching ears but it remains anathema to us as Christians. No one writes more about the abuses within our church walls but religion is not a dirty word. God used the word religion and differentiated between good and bad religion:

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. - James 1: 26-27 (ESV)

Yet to those enamored with experiential Christianity, all religion is bad. Why? Because of that pesky little box they always like to talk about. There is a Christian recording artist who makes the following statement in the movie, "Holy Ghost."

"What if we said collectively as the church, OK God, no more boxes. No more limits. No more we have to control everything. Just give God total control. Yeah, it's scary but I think that's the way we were meant to live." - Meredith Andrews

That is the way Satan wants us to live beloved. The limits she holds such contempt for is called doctrine. The box she abhors so much is called the Bible. It is the enemy of experiential Christianity and since Jesus is His Word, He too is the enemy to experiential Christianity. The reason why is the Word exposes what is false. When you point out that Scripture does not record any miracle manifestations of gem stones and gold dust, experiential Christians will say that we are "Pharisees" who just want to adhere to the law. The reality is we are Christians who just want to adhere to the Bible. Or we are asked the intellectually vacuous question of whether we believe that God "could have" performed the sign or not. Of course He could - He's God. The real question is why would He? Why would God suddenly depart from His own Word?

The lead singer of the experiential and heretical outfit known as Jesus Culture testifies to a waking visitation from Jesus who took her to the throne room of God. There she claims to have met the Father face to face and watched as He ripped out a chunk of His heart to mold a miniature version of her to dance and sing for Him. Experiential Christians will "ooh and ahh" over this but biblical Christians will call it for what it is - demonic. How do we know that? Because we have the Bible:

And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The Lord.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." - Exodus 33: 19-20 (ESV)

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. - 2Corinthians 11: 14-15 (ESV)

The Exodus Scriptures assures us that Kim Walker-Smith did not meet God the Father because if she did, she would be dead. The Corinthians verses give us the best possible answer to what actually happened. In all likelihood, she was visited demonically and could not tell the difference. Therein lies the rub beloved. The problem with experiential Christianity is that it is completely subjective upon humans who cannot be trusted. Even the most well intended are still encased in flesh, tempted by the enemy, enamored with this world, and have hearts which are wickedly deceptive above all else. Biblical Christianity however relies upon the Words God Himself has given us. There is no need for any additional revelation. There is no need for hidden knowledge; the hallmark of the Gnostic heresies. There is no need to be chasing the next big "spiritual" experience because we have been given the final revealed will of Almighty God! Do we honestly think He forgot something and wants to tell us through Bill Johnson or Mike Bickle? Do we revere the Word as we revere Christ? We ought to since His Word is Himself. What does the Bible teach us about His Word?

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. - 2Timothy 3: 16-17 (ESV)

It does not say that all personal experience is God-breathed. It does not say that we should use our experience as doctrine. To teach people, reprove them and correct them. Our experiences are not to be used to train us in righteousness. If the Bible is a box then seal me inside with it! Only the Bible equips us for every good work. I can convince myself anything is "of God" but only Scripture will reveal if it actually is.

Another side issue is that quite often the experiential Christians do not understand the demonic war they are messing around with. The Bible teaches us that we war against the rulers of darkness in this world and spiritual wickedness in high places. This is not some parlor trick or game we are playing. Lives are at stake. The eternal destination of the souls of men are on the line. It cannot all be an experiential show. The Bible talks about the first experiential Christians. They were known as the Seven Sons of Sceva:

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims."Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. - Acts 19: 13-16 (ESV)

The seven sons of Sceva were all about the show. The pomp and circumstance. The bravado and drama. But they were trying to command demons in the name of Jesus without being grounded in His Word. Without being in relationship with Him. Repeating His name is not some trick that forces demons to flee. It is a painful lesson the seven sons had to learn the hard way. I see some of the shenanigans going on at places like Bethel and can only imagine the evil spirits they invite into their church and into their lives. Do you think the Holy Spirit makes people roll around on the ground and laugh uncontrollably? Bethel runs a school for the supernatural to teach the gifts of the Spirit. They seemingly allow anyone to come up and "prophesy" over the congregation. They routinely invite everyone to lay hands on each other. These are frightening in their stupidity and disrespect for the spiritual war we are in. Considering the Bible says that the Spirit decides who gets which gifts and when, the entire premise is dangerously close to blaspheming the Holy Ghost. The experiential Christian talks a lot about the Holy Spirit without truly understanding who He is.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. - John 16: 13-15 (ESV)

The object of the Holy Spirit is not to give you goose bumps and butterflies in your stomach. It is not to knock a congregation on its collective backside. He is not a magician here to convince people to give Jesus a try, as the "Holy Ghost" movie continually implies. One of the primary functions is to lead believers into all truth. What is the truth being referred to here? Scripture. That pesky little box experiential Christians keep trying to malign. When they say they want "no limits" what they mean is they want "no rules." When there are no rules, we can make it up as we go along. Bill Johnson can pretend there are angel feathers falling in his sanctuary. Kim Walker-Smith can pretend she has visited heaven. Joseph Prince can pretend that he gets direct revelation from God. Todd Bentley can pretend that the Holy Spirit instructs him to punch people in the stomach and kick people in the face. Mike Bickle can teach kids that Jesus is their lover. When you are not bound by the pesky little box known as Scripture, you can say just about anything and get away with it.

"The feathers are often caught by people and saved. The gold dust is so small - much smaller than glitter. It's tough to collect. Although I've seen it accumulate on clothing, shoes, etc. The gems are kept by those who find them." - Bill Johnson

In experiential Christianity this is all cause for celebration but when the Bible is held up to it, it simply does not pass the smell test. If your only argument is "God could do it" then you have no argument at all. Which brings us to our key verses for today. We must remember beloved, the predictions of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. In these last day there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions. A scoffer is someone who mocks. Someone who calls people a Pharisee for example for merely insisting on biblical accuracy. Someone who accuses you of trying to put God in a box for simply insisting on biblical accuracy. They follow their ungodly passions. Such as supernatural manifestations that are not recorded in Scripture. To draw glory away from Christ. Make no mistake about it beloved. Regardless of whether they sit in a church and wrap themselves up in the name of Jesus - they are worldly people. Watch that Holy Ghost movie and you will see utter carnality on display and presented as if it is godly.

What do these worldly people seek to do? To cause division. There was one underlying message throughout the Holy Ghost movie. That message is that church sucks but their way is a direct relationship with God. If you listen to the Bill Johnson's and Mike Bickle's of the world - the message is the same. They have it all figured out and those that disagree are somehow limiting God. Joseph Prince has preached that those that follow his hyper grace heresy are the last generation before the rapture. The Benjamin Generation that will receive five times as much blessings and anointings as everyone else. Ironically, those that adhere to this Gnosticism are devoid of the Holy Spirit they claim to be following. They cannot discern between spirits because they have abandoned Scripture as their plumb line. Instead, whatever feels right is the new authority and damn anyone who dares to question it.

In closing it is important to realize that this is not speaking against a true move of the supernatural Spirit. I have seen God move. I have seen miracles and people healed. The difference however is that every move of the Spirit must remain true to Scripture. God cannot deny Himself.

The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him;if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;if we are faithless, he remains faithful--for he cannot deny himself. - 2Timothy 2: 11-13 (ESV)

Beloved, Scripture does not place God in a box. It ensures that what we are experiencing is actually from God. We need to be on guard against this infiltration of experiential Christianity within the body of Christ. It invites in new age dogma, eastern mysticism, and exposes us to the darkness of the spiritual war we wage. Do not so casually toss aside the Word of God, which protects us and guides us:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. - Hebrews 4: 12 (ESV)

The Bible discerns the thoughts and intentions of our hearts beloved. It is not some archaic set of rules. It is an indispensable bastion of all that is true. Our thoughts and intentions? Not so much. Do you want to know how nonsense like the Toronto Holy Laughter debacle happen? Or the false revivals at Lakeland and Brownsville? Or the heretical bridal paradigm at IHOP? Or the school of the supernatural at Bethel? Or the grave sucking anointing of Crowder? Or the fire tunnels of Jesus Culture? Or the disjointed false prophecies of the New Apostolic Reformation? Or the toking in the Holy Ghost nonsense? Or the Holy Ghost bartender theology? Or heretical movies such as "Holy Ghost?" How does all of this manage to happen right within the body of Christ? By accepting what we feel over what we know. By pursuing experience over doctrine. Do not fall for the persistent drum beat and calls for a shift in the rain. Do not fall for people being taught the gifts which the Bible says He distributes as He wills. Always make sure that experience stays true to the plumb line that is the Word of God.

Reverend Anthony Wade - September 21, 2014

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.