Welcome to Charismata V – the Kingdom Strikes Back
Pentecostal-Charismatic spirituality had often been criticised by observers for being inward looking. Within the practise of a local church, that may well have been the case, as people shared comforting personal prophecies with one another, whilst pursuing the need to experience a tangible sense of God’s inner peace. We shook, our hands got hot, and we swayed and wobbled until we fell over. Strangely we were living within a Western society which was becoming preoccupied by wellbeing, mindfulness, and wholeness, though in an environment thick with anxiety, panic attacks, low self-esteem, and all sorts of conflicting ideologies about identity – perhaps God, our great comforter and gracious to the end, might well have been ministering peace and hope to our first-world problems. I’ve often said, ‘a river will generally flow along the path of least resistance’.
Nevertheless, these were dangerous times, as the century turned. There were new teachings, that seemed to divide the most ardent and committed Charismatics. There were visions and even strategies to disciple entire nations for Christ. We were called to take our cities for God. There was in-depth spiritual mapping, in addition to the occasional territorial spirits we were already seeking to discern. There were acts of identificational repentance, as we celebrated the Lord’s Supper on the Western Front, in the UK in various neglected Northern communities, and the Welsh border among other obvious sites. Once I was in Canada with a group of First Nation people apologising for aspects of my nation’s empire behaviour. The upside? In this season, angels seemed to be more apparent, but there again, so did their fallen counterparts. The second heaven (whether you’re used to that language or not) had been opened like Pandora’s Box! Godly wisdom and spiritual discernment were needed like never before!
“We don’t want it in the temple!”
Was the intercessory cry of one of my dearest apostolic friends. As we observe Christ’s own ministry, in the Gospels, and his relationship to the physical Temple; whilst also tracing the River of God in Ezekiel’s prophecy, and how deeper and more effective it became the further from the Temple it flowed, the message was clear - we needed to be far more outwound looking. We already knew, the church and the Kingdom were not the same thing! We had hoped the church was the agent of the Kingdom – but it wasn’t its only one. God will always find a way. God’s Kingdom was not to be restricted to the confines of a predominately middle-class church structure. As another one of my apostolic intercessors told me at around the same time, “Simon, don’t simply look for signs in the church, God’s grace will generally always manifest among the faithful, but like Jesus, look for evidence of the Kingdom in the world.” I’ve never forgotten the wisdom of those words. I love fun-packed Spirit-led, ‘drunken’ meetings. But PLEASE NOTE, on their own, they are not a sign of God’s advancing Kingdom.
Did any of you watch the Transformations video? Now the sceptics might ask (over twenty years on from its original release), ‘What’s happened to those cities?’ Probably, what happened in Wales during the second decade of the twentieth century. History sadly shows us that revivals are rarely long-lived or even that lasting in their impact. Though the Welsh Revival of 1904-06 did source the coming Pentecostal movement. So too, many of the social changes in the UK’s nineteenth century, such as, healthy political developments, the abolishing of child labour and the introduction of free education for all, can be quite successfully linked back to the Great Awakenings of the eighteenth century and the truly genuine Kingdom fruit those revivals seeded into the nation.
It’s now 1997, some of the Charismatics are awaiting a great revival, the likes of Wales back in 1904. Others, often in the same church, are believing for something very different, something less church-like and more socially impacting. Salvation would still be a crucial part of it, but so too would further social reforms, the abolition of third-world debt, even financial levelling-up, long before the phrase became a political buzz term! We were starting to believe for significant transformation. Cali, Colombia, had had its weekend of non-violence with the powerful drug cartels being busted and key people arrested. Almolonga, Guatemala, had discerned and broken the stronghold of witchcraft over its town, now the farmers produced giant vegetables, money poured into their third-world pockets, and the many jails were eventually closed due to the massive reduction of crime.
These amazing stories and many more like them were all rooted in fervent prophetic intercession, and they seemed to come to light and coincide in the UK, when congregations here had a fresh impetus for Christian unity. New early morning prayer meetings started across the nation. Many of these non-denominational prayer meetings are still going, celebrating 20 or over 25 years of meeting together. The general atmosphere of such meetings was softly charismatic, the conservatives, as always, stayed away. There was a general breaking down of secular and spiritual divides, so the meetings were open to non-church leaders, so that the real apostles and prophets of the city could attend – if the church leaders were humble enough to recognise them.
The church landscape was changing. The empire spirit was being broken and the Kingdom was truly taking centre stage. Initiatives didn’t require church branding; indeed, such possessiveness was discouraged.
People weren’t falling on the floor as much. Nevertheless, this was a significant game-changing season, this was Charismata V, God’s Kingdom agenda was being re-established, the Kingdom was striking back, after years of (perceived) inward looking and exclusive church (or empire) building projects, we were once again being outward-looking and seeking to pioneer Kingdom advancing initiatives.
In these days, I was an itinerant minister and 'prayer-provoker', hanging around with some radical church planters and apostolic intercessors. We would meet up for 'fire tunnel' prayer meetings, weekend conferences, we even had a few strategic days on the Isle of Man - where on a clear day you can see Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England... what a place to pray! Our regular accompanying prayer minstrel/worship leader was the middle-aged Godfrey Birtill. He was different from the norm! I'll never forget someone commenting, 'Godfrey is writing the soundtrack for this current move of God.' I think he was. Hence the titles of these blogs, worship albums (for me at least) that caught and reflected something of each Charismata move. In blog 7/7, I'll explain the titles and my album choices.
It was now the twenty-first century, some of us had travelled quite a journey. In the words of Dr C. Peter Wagner, the Charismatics had become more Pentecostal, and the Pentecostals had become more Charismatic. In July of 2000, I was in Argentina and witnessing this, the streams had become a river, just as it had been modelled in Brownsville, Pensacola a few years earlier.
The whole Charismatic-Pentecostal mindset and spirituality had come of age. We still enjoined being slain in the Spirit, but it was really about salvation and transformation. We were learning to understand the spiritual realities around us, angels and fallen angels, the strategic use of tongues, the power of praise, the spiritual weapons we had in the Kingdom that the world could never comprehend. Though some TV personalities and other celebrities may well have become more militant in their atheism, the true enemy never once doubted the existence of God, and they were trembling at the declaration of His Name.
Wow! Charismata V sounds amazing. What happened? Was the momentum lost?
As I wipe a tear from my eye, here’s a gentle reminder to click on the links I attached to the Cali and Almolonga stories. You need to listen to the testimonies that were arising at that time – to witness the Kingdom breaking in.
What happened? God knows.
At the beginning of Judges 3, after the Land had been settled by Joshua, we find some interesting verses,
These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience)
As I write these blogs, one after the other, I am reminded of the battles and skirmishes I’ve had along the way. Convincing a Bible College Principal, to give me two-days off lectures to attend a Wimber conference, the constant boring discussions about modern songs versus classic hymn – though I never rose to the bait, I knew my worship style was pretty much a paradigm shift and had nothing to do with standing up and singing hymns. There were fearful church diaconates, worried about extremism. People even doubting my own salvation and Christian faith. The constant objection of songs being repeated for no reason. There’s normally a reason, they just hadn’t been taught it! Imagine walking on a road surface of misunderstandings, inexperience, ignorance and verbal hostility – it’s exhausting! And if those days are behind us, and I hope they are, even so, perhaps that’s why the strength of the fire has died down.
I'm so close to tipping over into my concerns about Charismata VI, which in fact isn’t a fresh sound of the Spirit, but more the eerie scraping of tumbleweed being blown through an empty room – a wilderness, a barren place. Don’t forget, do your YouTube homework before next time.
To be continued.
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