Toronto Blessings Movement

http://www.churchsociety.org/churchman/documents/Cman_109_2_OGorman.pdf

Some observations from this excellent summary brief on the “Toronto blessings” movement, but by parallel, to the larger charismatic movement and, extended from that, the new ACNA with charismatics.

Bishop Charles Morley of the Traditional Protestant Episcopal Church (http://www.reformer.org/) has frequently called attention to this. To wit, that a greater danger is posed by charismania to authentic Reformed Anglicanism than by Anglo-Romanism.

The author, the Rev. Paul O’Gorham, notes that this movement drew off people from his C o E parish, including "key leaders" from his own congregation. As a result, “small” is better he informs us following the settlement of the dust; Rev. Gorham calls attention to the individualism and ego-centricity of one departing member.

He issues a sage warning: “Oratory not disciplined by orthodoxy leads to heresy.” Our observation, anecdotal though it be, yet, based upon years of association with charismatics and their pastors by way of the U.S. Navy, supports the view that charismatics are anti-dogma, anti-Confession, and anti-intellectual; while we must be patient and utterly kind, we must resist these obstinate leaders.

O’Gorham calls attention to Gnosticism, Pelagianism, mysticism and even Arianism. These are considerable allegations.

On this scribe’s view, these charismatics seek an end-run around the “usual and ordinary” means of grace: Scripture, sacraments and prayer, established means by which God ordinarily or usually works. In short, they are lazy.

The standard responses, in my experience, are: theological illiteracy, manic enthusiasm, churlishness, insecurity, harshness, distemper of soul, forceful rejoinders and judgmental behaviours. These have, in this scribe’s experience, been the stock-in-trade responses from the enthusiasts, revivalists and Anabaptists.

Although there are other excellent works available, we commend to our readers a book by Nancy Almovodar, one who has experience in this nether-world of doctrinal midnights and doctrinal Lilliputians.

Nancy’s work can be seen at:

http://wipfandstock.com/store/A_Modern_NinetyFive_Questions_Todays_Evangelicals_Need_to_Answer

The publishers, Wipf & Stock, give this assessment of Nancy’s book:

"In 1517 an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed ninety-five statements to the door at Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. to the door at Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. This was not a means of open debate but a desire to discuss scholarly objections to church practices of the time. Five centuries later, many of the same errors and heresies have crept back into the evangelical church. A modern ninety-five theses, couched in new terms for a new generation, require scholarly debate once again. Through modern-day apostles and prophets, and through the elitists within the evangelical church, the doctrine of buying God's grace and favor has been propagated through appeals for seed offerings and "atonement-day" donations in order to garner God's blessings. Pragmatic approaches to preaching the gospel through such movements as the seeker-driven models have moved the focus of the message of Christ and the worship of God from being God-centered to human-centered. Sound historical doctrines, such as the Trinity, have been relegated to the sidelines in favor of unity and ecumenicalism with Oneness preachers. In the words of Martin Luther, "Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light," the following propositions need to be discussed in their entirety by church leaders, pastors, and laypeople alike."

This evening while reading and writing at Books-a-Million over coffee, a young college student of mine sat down for a discussion. He exhibited all the signs of this distemper of soul and the doctrinal disorders associated with the above. When challenged, he did so forcefully, defensively, and with the righteousness of the most committed Pharisee...and with the usual stock-in-trade approaches—as if any of that enhanced his case. With co-equal rigour and doctrine, yet, kindly and manfully, he was resisted. When done, he had the "look of the deer in the headlights" look.

He attempted to tell me that the Prayer Book was “over-traditionalism.” This man is 20-years old, drifts around, reads little on his summer vacation, and speaks about theology with a Papal assurance that would make the Pope blush.

Following "reality therapy, " he was left in silence and without speech when I informed him that 80-85% of the BCP service attended today was directly from Scripture—something his enthusiastic, backwoods, exhorting carnival-barker could not match. I wish I could find kinder descriptions, but adjectives and metaph0rs come to mind.

When will these leaders humble themselves? To learn? When will they take 4-5 years out of their life and go to seminary? To sweat? To struggle? To read and write? To listen, rather than assert? I am trying to be patient and kind about all this, but these appear to be the relevant issues.

Keep him and others like them in your prayers. We need to raise these same matters with Anglo-charismanites.

God works through the ordinary means of grace: His Word, His blessed and holy Sacraments, and prayer. God can work above, without, and against the secondary laws of nature, but ordinarily, God works through His appointed means.

We are thankful for a post from Kenneth Howes today, a Lutheran Churchman, for his insistence on the "Means of Grace" in conjunction with the Word. However, that is not an exclusive Lutheran view, but a Reformed and Anglican one as well.

By parallel, this will have to inform our discussions with charismatic Anglicans.

Let the Confessional and Protestant Church rise to the challenges. We know our duties. Let us do them. And let us resist--face-to-face with co-equal directness and force, with loving kindness--these Anabaptistic enthusiasts and revivalists.