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 PrintableVersion The Music ExchangeProphetic worship revisitedSorry to those who like to read about something different each month, but, on the rare occasion when someone writes in, I like to respond, especially if it helps me get clearer about an issue. I want to thank Ian and Irene Herring for their response to the last article on prophetic worship — I’m glad to have at least put the phenomenon on the map as an issue we need to engage with. They seem to have had much more first-hand experience of this than me, so it was very helpful to have their insights. I’ve taken a couple of quotes from their reply to help us think further about the problem. Apologies that they are long quotes, but they say it much better than I could. Response time‘As the worship described in your various quotes is encountered, so there is a sort of emotional, musical orgasmic response within the whole gathering. The length of time to arouse the congregation is important: 30 to 40 minutes on their feet with sustained singing is required to bring in the prophetic worship. At this point, the worship leader will announce that, “the spirit has come”, “the spirit has arrived”, or, “I want you to sit down carefully so you don’t lose it” (i.e. the spirit).’ This concurs with the quotes from last month about the ‘super-spiritual’ way in which the Spirit is supposed to act during times of singing or dancing. The fact that there is a dependence on the human psyche rather than the Creator himself is evidenced by the thinking that the ‘spirit’ may be lost if you sit down too quickly. After 30 to 40 minutes on my feet singing, I’m not going to care how I sit down! What authority?‘You conclude by saying modern worship is something that is to be searched for, but never found. These congregations believe that they have found it, that they are experiencing it in the power of the Spirit. They believe that it is the only way to worship and they are influencing other congregations and our university Christian Unions to copy their activities. Sadly, in so many cases, this emphasis on prophetic worship takes the place of Bible-based evangelism as well as Bible-centred teaching. Ultimately, the Bible becomes just a resource and not the way God has revealed himself authoritatively and sufficiently.’ This last sentence gets to the heart of the issue. I’ve said in a previous article that this teaching comes from a confusion between movements of the human spirit (small ‘s’) and the Holy Spirit himself. This happens when an authority other than Scripture defines the person and work of the Spirit. That other authority may be a ‘worship leader’ through music or the arts (as in the quote above), it may be an individual believer, or even a preacher. In any case, man decides on how the Spirit works, and not Scripture. Put another way, man is in the driving seat, not God. No wonder that the hunger is for a quick high, rather than a deepening relationship with Jesus, which God offers to those who hold to his Word. At best... at worst...How do we respond? First, there is a case for being pro-active. If ‘prophetic worship’ encourages responses from a ‘spirit’ other than the Holy Spirit, then at best the activity is unscriptural, at worst cultic. If you know anyone who has been drawn in by this teaching, then why not accompany them to the next meeting of the congregation they attend? At least it would mean that you were better informed about what is going on. You will also have a chance to challenge them gently. The last time we visited a meeting where there was an unreal expectation during the ‘prophetic worship’ time, my wife turned to a girl who was sitting next to her and asked, ‘So, what do you think was going on there then?’ The girl said, ‘Fair cop, you’ve got me, I haven’t got a clue what was going on.’ (That was my translation of what was said anyway, but it’s not short of the mark.) The girl left the church immediately and is now going to a church which teaches the Bible faithfully. The man I spoke to didn’t know what was going on either, but he said he couldn’t leave because he was the church warden! Sucked inSecond, and more importantly, we need to beware of being sucked into the same thinking. Young people especially will be looking for ‘spiritual engagement’, but it’s a lie of the devil that we should be encouraged to discern good and evil from within ourselves and so become like God (Genesis 3.5). As Ian and Irene say: ‘God has revealed himself authoritatively and sufficiently in the Bible’, so our confidence must always remain there, even if our ‘worship’ is deemed to be more pathetic than prophetic. As Bible-believing Christians, God has revealed to us what many are still clutching for in the dark. Praise the Lord! Richard Simpkin© Evangelicals Now - March 2006 |
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