Excellence or Folly.

 "But in a great household, there are not only vessels of Gold and Silver, but of wood and clay - vessels for honour and dishonour". 2 Timothy 2:20.

Back in the heady days of my youth in the mid 1970's, whilst being at a boarding school in West Sussex, I had the opportunity to attend for a couple of summers the developing "canvas" of 'new' notions expressed at the Caple Bible weeks held in the grounds of what was then Elim Bible College. There, I  witness first hand the sprouting of the "renewal" movement which would become identified with the Restoration teachings of the likes of Ern Baxter,  Derick Prince (of the Fort Lauderdale Five) from America, and the likes of Bryn Jones, Arthur Wallis and Terry  Vergo from the UK as they brought "Restorationism" to the Charismatic Movement with a fresh wave of enthusiasm. 

Whilst I swam amongst these waters for a few years, I was never comfortable with the various spiritual emphases of the movement as a whole, especially as certain spiritual requirements came to the fore and the teaching took a far more dispensational and zionist stance, leaving those of us who asked why such things were right when they argued with scripture looking for another home. That lead me to seek a home for a time in the reformed wing of Christianity, but I soon discovered this to be just as moribund by extreme Calvinism and legalism as its Charismatic relation. This lead to my digging deep into church history to find those believers who were truly worth listening to both in the past (The Apostles, Irenaeus) in the Reformation (Martin Luther) and in our own age (C S Lewis) who sought to point correctly to Christ and the exclusiveness of His unique and entirely saving work.

Whilst my particular experiences may have been particular in some respects to myself, the general tenor of the last four decades of what has occurred amongst many church groups will be familiar to many. As the general "direction of travel" of all of this is known,  where it has lead - the "downgrade" as Spurgeon referred to it in the 19th century, has most certainly lead to a large 'going to seed' of the spiritual crop of our times. Many have become bewildered with the political nature of the direction of what was deemed 'godly' became squared to a very particular interpretation of the nature of Spiritual anointing amongst the social well being of the national population of a region of the Middle East, often to the entire expense of the rest of the global church and other considerations.

What this, in effect means, is the Gospel itself and the very work of God as Saviour becomes subservient to other, more supposedly immediate concerns and needs (in the news and in the 'presenting' nature of what is currently defined as 'spiritual'), leaving the church without its true voice and the world bereft of the vital call of the good news as a consequence. The violence of this estate, which has grown like a cancer over the last century, leaves Christianity buried at the very hour that the world so deeply needs the vital light it is meant to bring.

Service in this hour means raising a voice that will never prove popular as it calls us to refuse the easy road of perceived 'anointing' that others loudly proclaim, and walk the far harder pathway 'less travelled'  if we really want to bring actual worth and value to this generation. May Christ enable us to do so!