One well know Charismatic writer wrote these
words:
"The World awaits a fresh manifestation of the Spirit in the Body of
Christ......I am tired of the airy, fairy doctrines of Theologians. The fresh manifestation of the Spirit will
have NOTHING to do with sound doctrine.”" Is that statement true? Is it true that a fresh manifestation of the
Spirit is going to come independent of sound doctrine? What is true is that the Church in some
circles is accepting just about anything that smacks of spirituality without
checking it out with the Word of God first. We
see it in the way the Church has embraced a marketing approach to ministry, viewing the gospel as a product to be hocked. We
see it in the therapeutic approach to handling life's problems as
opposed to a Biblical approach where God’s Word is seen as sufficient. We see it in the health wealth and prosperity
gospel, where God is seen as a cosmic genie as opposed to the awesome Sovereign Holy One. We see it in the acceptance of shabby
theology in Christian book stores, with books being written that have little to no relation to Biblical
teaching. The extremes are see in the bad theology of some Charismatics to the non-theology of
some emergent Church writers.
What is the Problem? There has been a breakdown of theology on the
Local Church level where Pastors have opted
out for a perceived better way as opposed to the Pauline example of consistently teaching of the
whole counsel of God, and modeling a distinctly Christ-like living pattern.
As David Wells says in the last
Chapter of his fine book “No Place for Truth; Whatever Happened to Evangelical
Theology?”
"We need reformation rather
than revival. The habits of the modern
world, not so ubiquitous in the evangelical world, need to be put to death, not
given new life. They need to be rooted
out, not pampered over with some fresh religious enthusiasm.” ( His
thesis is that proper theology leads to revival..) “The death of theology has profound ramifications. Theology is dying because the Church has lost
its capacity for it. And while some hail
this loss as a step forward toward the hope of a new Evangelical vitality, it
is in fact a sign of creeping death. The
emptiness of evangelical faith without Theology echoes the emptiness of modern
life."
As the body of Christ we must
stand with a balance of love and sound doctrine. It seems to me that we have swung from an emphasis on Orthodoxy (right belief) to an emphasis on Orthopraxy (right practice). The point is that we need both, without either the Church ceases to represent
Jesus. Pray that Pastors would have a
renewed confidence in the Word of God. God’s people are starving for the knowledge of
God and it is time for the Shepherds to step up to the plate and deliver it,
line upon line, precept upon precept. | 
