Posted by Yong TM (202.172.43.132) on January 07, 2003 at 11:23:10:
In Reply to: Re: Possession posted by Kamen Rider on January 07, 2003 at 01:27:02:
Your questions needs long responses; but I will attempt to summarise. You may need to do more reading and studying yourself, but this is a good start.
1. Reformed Theology
Actually, all protestant churches (i.e. non-Roman Catholic) owe their roots to the Reformation in the 1500s. The most famous reformer were people like Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox and the like. The church used to be dominated by the Roman Catholic model till these people came out and started the reformed movement. The theology relating to this movement is termed Reformed Theology. From this movement came the major denominations we are familar with today (e.g. Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, etc).
Reformed Theology places great emphasis on the proclamation that the WORD of God and the WORD alone is the final and highest authority in faith (in latin: sola scriptura, meaning The WORD alone). From this concept came our usual understanding of salvation by faith alone, by God's grace alone, by Christ alone; and glory to God in the highest alone.
Unhappily, in recent decades, the church has gone to other extremes with people proclaiming all sorts of things outside of the Bible (i.e. extra-biblical revelations). Most prominent in this practice would be the charismatic movement, the signs and wonders movement, the third wave movement and a host of other movements. Because of that, terms like charismatic Christians and reformed Christians came into being. Part of the reasons for this emergence is the advancement of media, so that people do not think or read anymore, and anyone who is articulate and can put up a good show would get all the attention and support.
Part of Dr Tong's ministry concentrates on getting the church back to the WORD of God, i.e. reclaiming our reformed heritage. Because of this, he is spending away his health and energy among 4 Asian cities (Singapore, Hong Kong, KL, Taipei) every week to preach expositionally from the Bible to attempt to bring some sense back to the chaos we find in churches today, where things that you wrote about abound today. In early years, pastors who say things that you wrote about would have been fired by the church. But nowadays, it has become fashionable to claim extra-ordinary occurances, whether they are true or not is entirely another matter.
2 and 3. Although churches have been practicing things you spoke about, reformed Christians will not accept it simply because it is nowhere to be found in scripture. This is because reformed theology insists that all we ever need to know about faith and life is already expressedly written in the Bible, or can be inferred from its general principles. Therefore, we do not accept any extra-biblical revelations, or the idea that there could be new phenomena that God wants us to know about suddenly. We affirm that He has revealed His will and plans for us in His WORD, and His WORD is sufficient for us totally in our existence on earth. So whatever we do, we do it through the general principles of the Bible.
For example, in the earlier case I cited, the Korean pastor was very articulate, spoke with great confidence, was warm and caring. Yet she said that she could see spirits, identify this and that spirit which are 'haunting' this or that person causing pain in the legs, head, back, whatever. What to make of this? The answer for the reformed Christian is to go back to the WORD of God and see if there are such things mentioned anywhere, or does the general principles of the Bible advocate such behaviour. The answer is a resounding NO. So this Korean pastor would either be lying, or she believes what she believes in or sees what she sees, but it is not true. She may be sincere, very sincere; but very sincerely mistaken.
If one carries the argument further and abandon the reformed position, then one needs to ask the same question about your Taoist Sai-Kong who claims his third eye is also open, or your Buddhist monk who claim he can see your past life, or your Hindhu mystic or guru who can perform miracles (like Sai Baba in India). So does that mean that God has visited these people and they hold some revelations not given to Christians? The answer for reformed Christians would again be a resounding No. For the Bible proclaim that Satan can come even disguised as an angel, and that even non-believers can perform great miracles and NOT be part of God's kingdom. Apart from God's WORD, anything and everything can be claimed by anyone. There can be no end to arguing who is right or wrong - but for reformed Christians, anything that is NOT in God's WORD would not be considered as truth.
4. Peter's case is certainly not a possession. Christ was rebuking him for having the same function as Satan in opposing Christ's ministry.
One of the key reasons why possession is such a hot topic is because it is so easy to blame every nonsense on some spirits that possesses us. Feeling down? Blame the spirit of downness and cast it out. Feeling angry? Blame the spirit of anger and cast it out. Church not growing? Go do a territorial prayer thing and cast out obstructing demons. As Dr Tong said, if one were to blame all problems on the devil, then for the devil to do something wrong, the devil must be possess by another devil; and on and on it goes. In reality, other than real demon possession (reformed theology does not deny this since it is certainly in the Bible; it just does not believe that it is a daily, all consuming existence the way many churches believe; again since the Bible does not say so; and reality does not reflect so as well), we are responsible for our own sins. We are angry and down because we are unforgiving and have low self-esteem. Our church does not grow because we need great speakers and entertainers to help attract the crowd, rather than going out there to really make a difference.
We are barking up the wrong tree when we keep going around in circles doing this possession and casting out of demons thing. We are seeking after illusions and excitement when we move beyond the scripture, forgetting that the WORD of God in itself is so very much deeper than anything the world has to offer, and that we need to spend our entire life just to scratch its surface. Dr Tong remarked to me just this Sunday that the church has abandoned her treasures at home, scrambling for leftover food on the road side instead.
To illustrate that point, put aside possessions and all that jazz, and ask yourself if you have displayed the fruit of the Holy Spirit in your life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. Every time I meditate on these nine items, I can hardly go beyond love, joy, peace; so lacking in all these areas. I don't have leftover time and energy to wonder if I am ever possessed...