Charismatic Defects - Part 2

Following on from Defects 1 and the positive Effects are another 5 points worth considering and evaluating about the charismatic movement:-

• 6. Charismania - or the description for the habit of the mind which measures spiritual health, growth and maturity by the number and impressiveness of people's gifts, and spiritual power by public charismatic manifestations(as described by O'Conner in The Pentecostal Movement in the Catholic Church). Again this a negative and a habit that is bad, for the principle of judgment is false and where it operates, real growth and maturity are likely to be retarded.

• 7. Super-supernaturalism - For those amongst the movement that exaggerate and over emphasize the extraordinary of the supernatural and those that reduce the ordinary to a lower class of spiritual life. When the desire to become extra supernatural is not in accordance with Scriptures and the disdain given to others who don't go in for the weirdness associated with the charismatic movement in comparison to the more staid or orthodox. When the natural, regular and ordinary is undervalued it shows that they are immature and weak in grasping the realities of creation and providence as basic to God's work of grace.

• 8. Eudaemonism - Dr Packer's use of the word for the belief that God means us to spend our time in this fallen world feeling well, and in a state of euphoria based on that fact. The regular and expected projection of euphoria from their stages with their standard theology of healing, and awesomeness, shows that the assumption and presumption of euphoria to which they want their followers to adhere. Hence the term 'happy clappy'. Good health at all times is not God's will for all believers which is evidenced by the fact of many Christian leaders that have not been supernaturally healed - and this includes many of the charismatic leaders also.
  

• 9. Demon-obsession - If all of life is seen as a battle with demons in such a way that Satan and his hosts get blamed for bad health, bad thoughts and bad behaviour without reference to physical, psychological and relational factors then a very unhealthy demonic counterpart of super-supernaturalism is developed. Also the personal evil and personal responsibility and culpability is shifted away by blaming the devil made me do it.
  

• 10. Conformism - Group pressure and group think is tyrannical when the group believes itself to be super-spiritual and finds the evidence of its members' spirituality in their power to perform along approved lines. The pressure imposed (sometimes subtly) for members to perform and copy others such as in hand waving, tongues, prophecy, laughing, etc encourages the individual to follow the group instead of following the Lord and can become another legalistic type of bondage.

Some of these listed defects are not only confined to the charismatic movement but are a threat to the maturity of Christians in and out of the charismatic movement.