In my last post, I explained my journey into the Charismatic movement and the profound effect it has had on my life. I am still working through disconnecting from the false belief systems I held and wrestling with other beliefs that have brought a lot of confusion. One of those beliefs is the continued use of the gifts of the Spirit, or what some refer to as the “sign gifts”. These gifts are prophecy, healing, tongues, discerning of spirits, words of knowledge and miracles. All these gifts are listed in 1 Corinthians 14:11 as gifts given and empowered by the…
-
-
Soon after I became a Christian I got quite swept away with the charismatic movement of the church. I remember the first time I was talking to a friend and heard that Christians were laying hands on people and healing their bodies through prayer. I had read about such things in the Bible, but I had no idea they could exist in this day and age! I was so excited and I felt a desperation to know more about it. Soon I began going to a “hearing and healing” night at a local non-denominational church that leaned more towards Pentecostal.…
-
I remember the first time my husband and I took our family to a Christian church like it was yesterday. I was February of 2013, and it was Super Bowl Sunday. I was absolutely taken away by the love of God that day, and I went from a God-hating pagan to a woman devoted to Jesus Christ in a matter of months. We quickly fell in step with the Christian life: we began attending church weekly, as well as Bible studies and a life group. My husband and I were baptized and became members a few months later. The church…
-
When I first started to go to church just over three years ago, I had a very distinct idea of what church was. It was a place where the good people go. The people who are perfect and don’t do any wrong. People quite the opposite of me: drug addict, tattooed, ex witch, etc. I knew that everyone was certainly nice and kind and loving. No one had any serious problems because once you became Christian you became perfect. Wrong. It didn’t take long to realize those were all completely fabricated lies that I learned while growing up. There is…