The God who is Near

In 1998 I was in a Paul Cain meeting which radically reshaped my life.    Why did it affect me so?  Because the way he used his gift was so dramatically revelatory of the love and nearness of God.  Suddenly, in one moment, you realize that any goodness or nearness you had previously understood of God grossly underestimates His true glory.  For a lot of people, including me, it's actually more than our character is capable of handling.   Although I did not want or intend to, I became too stuck on Cain himself, rather than the aspect of God his life and ministry revealed.

So when he fell a couple of years back, I was very shaken.  I had held him up as “the” model for what the Christian life was supposed to be, and yet apparently significant problems were under the surface at least for some meaningful period of time.    In particular, Cain lifted up a vision of radical holiness.  Cut away everything that is not on fire for God–and on the other end there is something worth having, something likeCain walked in (although he never suggested that, that was my logical inference).    Holiness “just because” is a dry pursuit, but holiness, because God will show through you and in you is an awesome thought.

In the intervening years though, I've lost the vision of God's nearness.  You begin to understand God's hand in history and in your life, etc, and you experience his transcendence, but without his immanence, you the form but not the power.    The beauty of following God is in his personality.   He knows every thought, every action, every hair on your head–”in him we live and move and have our being.”  When you are experiencing him as a person in your life, not just a force, you are experiencing real Christianity. 

Now that I've moved out of the church context where I was, God has been opening the personal aspect to me again, and the desire to be specially holy, specially pure, to be specially close.  Yes there is a tension with the fact that we've already been made right with him, and we have all we need pertaining to life and Godliness, but at the same time, history bears out that if you draw to Him in purity of heart, there are major consequences– He will draw near to you.  And if He draws near to you, then He is near to the Earth–watch out.  Things will shake.  That's what happened to Todd Bentley.  He sought God so much that God called his bluff.   There is nothing in this world like being full of God.    Every pleasure of the world only leaves us with a “continual lust for more” but God's pleasures leave us with a deep satisfaction.

God is not a movement, or a denomination, or any other box we (often unintentionally) put him in.  God is so incredibly brilliant and dynamic.  Just to see a glimpse of his glory as I did in 1998 can “ruin” an entire life.   I'll never forget what it was I saw in the Spirit.  The purity, the love, the otherness–this is a Christianity worth living for.   

This brings me to a related thought, where I think Cain was right on–the anointing is more valuable than anything else.   A Church which is animated by the Spirit of God, rather the mind of man.    Remember, He spoke the world into existence, but he breathed life into the man.   Man is more than raw truth, he is living spirit.  There is no theology that will hold life, anymore than there is a box that can hold time.   Theology may form the boundaries, but it is animation by the Spirit of God, that makes it wonderful and real and alive.  The “anointing” really is the nearness God resulting in power and beauty.   If we are captivated by Him, and sold out to him, we will experience this anointing, and others will through us.  God can change history in one minute under the anointing.

Dangerous trends in the Church

The contemporary church appears to be at a crossroads. The legendary figures of the World War II generation are passing off of the scene. These figures, the greatest of whom was Billy Graham, anchored the church for more than half a century. Raised in the fundamentalist context of a long gone time, and baptized into the post WWII revival, they were strong defenders of an evangelistic and strongly orthodox conception of reality. It was in their generation that fundamentalism became evangelicalism and began to retake America from the modernist church which had nearly overcome it. Today we see a resurgent evangelicalism which is feared by the world more than it is mocked, and we find evangelicals under every rock, including the White House. Now, however, the Baby Boom generation is at the helm of the church, but without the philosophical moorings of the parents’ generation. The church, apart from a shift, seems to be slowly shifting away from the citadels of its former glory. Here are what I consider to be 9 distinct movements the church faces. Some are on the rise, and some are at peak, and some are losing steam.

Evangelical Problems

Openness – The only redeeming feature of this movement is that it seems to be yesterday’s heresy. It has nevertheless caused problems. It promotes, within the guise of orthodoxy, an anthropomorphic god who does not know the future. Needless to say the Mormon’s have found comfort in this theology, and the Calvinists have found fuel for the anti-Arminian fire, although the movement is a perversion of Arminianism.

The New Perspective on Paul - The New Perspective on Paul and its sister strand, Auburn Avenue Theology, are both dangerous movements which undermine the very foundation of the protestant faith-our understanding of justification by faith. Auburn Avenue Theology is a movement among hard line Calvinists which replaces a theology of conversion, with a theology of covenant, ultimately undermining the foundation upon which our salvation stands. Calvinist Guardians of orthodoxy have taken up defense of salvation by faith, but this movement is a true heresy, shockingly appearing among evangelicals.

Neo-Calvinism – I do not want to overstate the case against Calvinism, since is almost all respects Calvinism is an orthodox position, and all of the Calvinists I have met, I consider to be brothers in the Lord. However, it is important not to ignore the growing trend and its effects. A resurgent version of Calvinism is sweeping the seminaries, especially impacting the coming generation of young men. This version of Calvinism is different from the Calvinism of the Puritans and many of the early Reformers. Their version of the doctrine of God’s sovereignty was baptized in the fire of persecution, and focused on preaching a converting gospel to a lost world. The new version has the same problems, but not the same fire. At its root Calvinism strikes at the passion for souls, and the passion for holiness which are at the heart of pure Christianity.

The Emergent Church – Not all of its elements are not bad, however I believe it ultimately represents a removal of the barriers which have protected the church for generations. Some doctrines which the Emergents are willing to open for discussion are non-negotiable and we will see a slow erosion of truth in this movement, until we can hesistate to call it evangelical any longer.

Charismatic Problems

The Gospel of Wealth -  Word of Faith doctrine, although it has led to some positive developments, has also led to some notable excesses, this being the glaring one. Because of this theology leading ministers are justified in their own consciences in collecting, sometimes extracting, huge sums from their congregations and spending it on themselves because they are “blessed.” And if you give enough, you might be “blessed” too. God does love a cheerful giver, but the Scriptures should teach us to fear what we do with the offering given from the cheerful heart.

The Gospel of Self – Earth was not supposed to be filled with misery and failure just because we are Christian, however, this seems to have grown out of proportion so that with each passing year, it appears that among Charismatics the gospel of death to self is replaced with the gospel of self fulfillment. At first, it was confined to material success but it has gone deeper. We used to be focused on getting other people saved and into the Kingdom, now we are becoming too concerned about our own well being to be worried about others. Our pursuit of holiness has become an obsession with a better Christian life. We’re talking about personal destiny, and preaching this to unbelievers as the essence of the gospel. No doubt Jesus did offer his disciples an awesome destiny, but it was glory mixed with gall. All sugar and no salt is no gospel at all.

Authoritarianism. – Ever since the advent of the Shepherding movement, various authority movements have plagued the church, especially among Charismatics. While the Shepherding movement had some insights, it also had some poisonous fruit. Its doctrines of obedience to authority have created a sort of new medieval church, with an unaccountable clergy and an honest laity is too afraid to call them into question. What’s worse is that this system seduces well meaning believers who then become victims of less well meaning believers who buy into the system of abuse. Not every incarnation is the same or as bad as another, but make no mistake, the unaccountable leadership structures in the Charismatic church, and the theologies which justify them, are dangerous.

Common Problems

Feminism – Egalitarian views not only of humanity but also of the Godhead have become increasingly prevalent. In the former times, women were kept unfortunately and needlessly on the sidelines of church ministry and activity. With the advent of modern feminism, however, the tables have turned. Now it is the men, who although they still hold most of the pulpits, are otherwise absent and disengaged from church. The women for their part, are drawn into every kind of pursuit except for the nurture and growth of children, which even among Godly women is often delayed and viewed as a distraction from the true fulfillment that must be waiting just beyond the front door. We really do not realize how broad and negative the undermining of Godly marriage and ministry roles in our society has been. Vital to the success of the future church is demonstrating again the great virtue of motherhood and family life. Equally vital is maintaining male leadership in the church, while at the same time inviting and opening ministry doors to women.

The Gospel of Appearance — It comes under different names in different places, but it is the same thing — emphasizing what is on the outside more than what is on the inside. In some circles this is “seeker friendly,” and the danger there is not preaching a converting or meaty gospel, but in other places it is called “excellence” The excellence doctrine states that anything we do for God should be done with excellence since he is God. Stated this way, it seems a self-describing truth
which is hard to counter. It seems harmless enough, except that the excellence which is talked about is always outward, not inward. And by following this theory my observation is that you will slowly move from anointed to good looking.

The Role of Imagination/Fiction in Christian Living

With the advent of the Christian movie industry, especially “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” and “The Lord of the Rings,” more and more Christians are getting into fiction and fantasy. This has some people worried. Tales with magic, imaginary creatures, and unreal environments often bring the temptation of fundamentalism close to many of our doors… “It isn’t of God, don’t get into it!”

But is this necessarily the case?

Let’s momentarily put aside the fact that there are good reasons for Christians not to get into movies at all–they can be a waste of time, feed celebrity worship, and pollute our moral senses with profanity and immorality. Sometimes they ruin a story for us. I personally have no problem with some people’s stance that all TV and movies should be restricted… as long as the reason is to devote oneself more appropriately (and non-self righteously) to holiness.

But some avoid Christian fiction because they are afraid of fiction. They believe that the elements in it–especially the make-believe ones–are blasphemy. Obviously CS Lewis, Tokien, and others didn’t think so, and perhaps we are willing to make an exception for Christian classics like those (or not), but the whole idea of imagination and fiction generally has a lot of orthodox believers on edge… wisely, but unnecessarily, if you think about it.

God, in His Word, condones the use of fiction, narrative, and imagination. He uses it himself. He uses parables, allegories, dreams, visions, symbols, and poetry to get His point across. While the OT narratives are historical, they are, to us modern readers, stories. And prophecies, filled with strange imagery, prompt people of every age to wise interpretation. The fact is that God assumes we will use, and depends on our imaginative capacities (which He gave us) to inspire us to high ideals, radical moves, hope in His return, and the faith-walk of our sanctification towards the “image” of Christ. He impresses upon us things we can’t see (i.e. heaven), sometimes in elements we can’t understand (i.e. the four living creatures around the throne), in words we can imagine (i.e. His voice like the waters), to help us take that great leap between what we experience as tiny, finite, material existence in his creation to the greatest, widest, most eternal truths of His existence in the spirit.

Thank goodness for imagination.

Now some argue that using our imagination to inspire us towards goals and character is not the same as inventing new fantasy or fiction stories, which are more dangerous because they are not real things or events to be actualized. To use our creative capacities to imagine starting a business is not the same as imagining what “The Passion” was like. And creating “The Passion” movie is not the same as creating “The Lord of the Rings” because the latter is not historical or sensical. And while I submit this article with the BIG caveat to not let worldly fantasy in the back door (especially about the spirit realm), I would argue that fiction can (and should be) sanctified.

When we create art: dance, song, painting, etc., we are invoking a sense of fiction. We are imagining something that is not, and making it so. Literature is an even more potent media because of the amount of language and imagery combined. Movie-making perhaps tops the potency list because putting pictures to the written word has an extremely powerful effect. When we read about Pilgrim, in John Bunyan’s allegorical novel, it is powerful because he crystallizes the characters and events so we catch the moral meaning and application of the story. Many novels, including Tolstoy’s and Dostoyevsky’s, do the same thing. They are masterful in dealing with character traits and historical events (although mixing the historical and fictitious) so that we can see the moral messages they are trying to convey in new, living color–messages that perhaps we would miss if we only had the diary entries of our own jumbled lives to examine.

Fantasy stories are capable of doing the same thing. By creating a fictitious world (with at least enough symbols and icons we understand), the artist is able to crystallize aspects of a story for moral application that perhaps he or she would not be able to convey with real props. Indeed, much of the Book of Revelation does this. Bumping the imagination up a notch from Tolstoy and Dostoyevksy, fiction by L’Engle, Lewis, or other writers can be extremely powerful because of the black-and-white terms everything is put in: the audience gets to see exactly how good and evil work, what the consequences of decisions are, and parallels life’s events has to the gospel message. I am not arguing that people should be L’Engle or Lewis fans, or that they should pursue the Christian fiction genre against their conscience, but rather that if we are honest, we do not have any biblical warrant for fearing fiction-making in itself. When it is submitted to God, imagination and fantasy can be a very powerful teaching tool. It makes use of the emotions to impress real-life facts upon us in ways that the rational mind (receiving plain teaching or non-fiction statements) cannot always do. It penetrates to the depths of man, and the emotive aspects of his heart. It allows the individual to perceive the outcomes of decisions not actually made. And it echoes the creative voice of God himself, in Scripture, who again creates fantastical events, images, and characters–some in history and some just in thought–for our learning throughout His Word.

The reality is that nothing God has given us is evil. God created us good. He wants us to use all our faculties for His glory, imagination or fiction-making included. God gave us this capacity–it is something distinctly human, which mirrors His creative faculties and sets us apart from all other living forms on earth. The greatest art, literature, and creative works came from pictures or songs or scenes that God inspired in the hearts (and minds) of humanity. We should not think more highly of ourselves than is appropriate, but to shun our creative-making devices is to fear God actually gives us bad gifts when we ask for good… not Scriptural.

So enjoy (and create) Christian fiction if that is your thing. The real question is not whether Christian fiction should exist but about the standards and specifics it should uphold. What are the shapes and limits of sanctified imagination? How can we judge whether something is godly or fleshly? Once we get over our fears, we can start penetrating this arena with more insight and confidence.