I updated the "Charismatic Resurgence" blog to include a powerful personal testimony from Jesse. It re-confirms to me after Terry Virgo's recent personal post that at the right point - personal testimonies can be very powerful! Jesse writes reluctantly and humbly but the essence of it is that God used a prophecy he gave at Covenant Life Church to save a marriage. This is God's divine sovereignity at it's glorious best! This should be great news to Charismatic Calvinists such as ourselves! As I said in my rationale for starting up the "Spirit of God" blog, we need to read and soak in positive and powerful testimonies of charismatic gifts. There are far too many negative ones around that quench the Spirit. So - Go read it!
Talking of powerful testimonies, let me highly commend a sermon to you that is now available on Terry Virgo's site. It's called "God's Pleasure Seekers" and is an excellent "Newfrontier-esque" presentation of John Piper's Christian hedonism. I believe Terry preached it to the men at Church of Christ the King in Brighton. But near the end of the sermon he shared a testimony from Alex Buchanan that electrified me. I always prick up my ears when Alex Buchanan is mentioned because he dedicated me when I was a baby and apparantly prophesied over me - although no one can remember the exact wording.
However Terry said that Alex Buchanan - now in his late 70's - recently was in hospital and was declared clinically dead and he had the awesome experience of going to heaven. Alex said that he woke up lying on the grass and every blade said, "Glory to God!". He then got up and walked for a bit and saw two fountains that embraced him as he walked by saying "Glory to God!". As he walked on he encountered angels who were singing in the most beautiful fashion. They came to him and said, "Do you like our singing?". Alex said, "It's incredible!". The angels then went on to say, "Oh we are waiting for the song of the redeemed! We can't sing that song! We can't wait for the song of the redeemed!".
I have made every member of my family come and listen to that testimony but I hope this backs up my point that when the Spirit is moving there is tremendous power in the personal testimony of the saints of God. Small wonder that Revelation speaks of us overcoming by "the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony!". Don't let's go to extremes. Let's not become head-knowledge Gnostics who can only blog if there is a Reformer or a Puritan quoted in there. Let's not go to the other extreme and begin sharing banal details about the morning routine of shaving we experienced. Let's try and be "Spirit-filled bloggers" (if such a thing exists!). Let's turn our keyboards over to the control and influence of the Spirit of God and let HIM decide what should go out on the internet.
Imagine the effect if everyone began doing that?!
Update: I have also updated the Charismatic Resurgence site with two more posts. One is a hit from Jesse - Adrian Warnock has written excellently on the connection between Resurrection and Baptism in the Spirit. The other is a series of excellent quotes from Arthur Wallis by my friend Hugh who is back and blogging with a vision and a vengence!
3 comments:
Yes I agree. The issue isn't one or the other - personal or purely theological. It's whatever the Spirit leads and wants and desires to be written. THAT'S where the power of the written word will be evidenced!! Because bloggers are truly "Writing what they see!". And as you said recently (I think) - if you aren't seeing anything, then your words are simply rhetoric. You might as well simply be hunting through the blog world for something controversial to write so that you can boost your comments and your hits.
Brilliantly argued.
I think blogs HAVE to be personal by nature, because surely no one can write in a complete vacuum. Our personalitise will always affect what we write, how we view life, God, theology etc etc surely? Someone who manages to write a purely objective, cold, theological piece of writing would be a pretty dull and sad creature!! After all isn't theology only truly theology when it's knowledge of God setting the heart ablaze with revelation of Him??!
That's why the great Puritan works live on to this day isn't it?! Because their writings were full of love, worship, adoration and wonder at God and who He was and that He would see fit to communicate Himself to us!!
Indeed indeed ... the word is "Tension".
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