Twenty-five
Avoid “Movements” Within
Christianity
“Today we are going to hear from Brother Blank who
will report on the new thing God is doing in His
Church.”
“Hundreds of Christian leaders gathered in Los
Angeles over the weekend to learn how to prepare for
the upcoming computer meltdown.”
“Some churches are becoming ‘12 Step’ centered.
It shows we can learn from the culture we live in.”
In the 37 years I have been a Christian, I have seen
many “movements” come and go. For instance,
there have been prophecy movements; Christians
excited about world events that surely signal the soon
return of Jesus. Books about the “YK2” problem were
big in 1999. I have seen movements for the “Battle for
the Bible,” people getting excited about defending the
Bible. I have seen movements regarding shepherding,
preaching the necessity of being submitted to a
“shepherd,” which would result in a balanced life. I
have seen the “Deliverance Movement”—everyone
getting all the demons cast out. (I was involved in this
particular movement myself.)
121
Movements
Then I have seen the movements whereby
addictions are cured or healed. (Almost everyone is an
addict, so we are told, and we can be free of them by
doing such and such.) And so we have Christian
movements that focus on addictions.
There has been a large and popular movement
whereby oaths and promises are made thus insuring
true Christian manhood. And spiritually discerning
Christians are “mapping” the demons that control cities
and that frustrate the success of the gospel message.
There have been, there are, and there will be
“movements” within the Christian community.
The Christian community, by and large, seems to
constantly need to be excited by some new thing. A
big revival is talked about here, and people are learning
how to take over their local governments over there;
people are rushing off to someplace in Canada, or they
are going off to someplace in Florida. They are booking
airplane flights and making hotel reservations. They
are spending lots of money running off and having a
good time then coming back and trying to get their
churches to appreciate the new movement and get on
board.
New movements have to be sold to the church,
and pastors end up being promoters rather than
preachers. Literature is mailed out, meetings are called,
and special speakers are brought in—all to get people
on track with the new and exciting movement. Talk
about a waste of resources!
Nearly all of the movements I have ever seen turn
out to be somehow funny and strange, but more than
that they are diversions from the primary goal of the
gospel ministry. Movements waste our money, steal our
time, and embarrass us. My suggestion is to avoid
movements.
122
For Pastors
Could it be that those who are merely Christianized
(those who experience false conversion) are the ones
who are attracted to the movements within
Christianity? It has been my observation that those who
have experienced true conversion are satisfied with
Jesus. Growing up into the stature of the fullness of
Jesus and bringing Him glory and honor, these seem
to be enough.
The work of the gospel preacher is always full and
never ending. Therefore there is usually little time for
the movements, exciting events, great meetings, and
outstanding seminars with so many great speakers
coming together. Well, these may keep people excited,
moving and supposedly busy, but I wonder about the
movements.
What “movements” have you gotten involved with?
Where are those movements now?
Brain storm to see if you can guess what the next one will be. I
think it will involve celebrations and rituals. Yes, Christians seem to be
captivated by big, noisy, “spiritual” celebrations.