Here's the quote:
"...one of my greatest concerns for the church in the Western world [is] the prevalence of unbelief. It has masqueraded long enough as wisdom and must be exposed for being the great sin that it is. Unbelief has the outward appearance of a conservative approach to life, but works to subject God Himself to the mind and control of people. It feeds off the opinion of others, all the while stroking itself for not falling into extremes that others have stumbled into. What is seldom realized by those who live in such a religious trap is that the unbelieving mind-set is completely unable to represent Jesus in His power and glory.
"It is troubling to me that so many Christians need me to prove that God actually does what I say I've seen Him do--as though the Scriptures were not enough proof. What is even more astonishing is that when the miracles happen before their eyes, they still want doctor's reports, x-rays, etc. before they will give God any praise." (pp.68-69).
I know these people. I was one of these people! At the time I wouldn't have called it "unbelief," I would have called it "being careful." Taken out of context, this quote might lead someone to conclude that Bill is saying that if you don't believe in miracles today, you aren't saved. He's not saying that. What he is saying is that when the scope of our belief excludes belief in the miraculous today, we are not believing the entire scope of Who God is and what He is doing in our world. To believe in a God who saves us from hell, but not from tonsillitis, is belief in a God that is too small, or too distant, or too unconcerned about us, or too powerless, or too uncaring, or ... [fill in the blank].
The Pull of the Scientific/Emperical Worldview
Part of the Western church's context for unbelief is our scientific, or empirical worldview (mindset). An empirical mindset trusts only what is observable and verifiable through testing. Such a view deals with the material (physical) world only, considering any other reality as either non-existent, irrelevant, or secondary. Such a worldview has no grid for anything affecting the material world that is not material. Any material effect must have a material cause. The idea that there is a spiritual world that can have a direct effect on the material world seems nonsensical to such folks. This mindset is so pervasive, and so insidious in our culture, it has penetrated the church too, mostly unnoticed.
I know of a case where a healing happened during a church service, where afterward in responding to the miracle someone said, "So pastor, what do you think really happened?" What was going on here is that someone with a scientific/empirical mindset wanted to understand the material cause of the material effect. That person's concept of reality had no grid for a spiritual cause for a material effect.
The television documentaries that attempt to find a "natural" (that is material) explanation for the 10 plagues in Egypt, for example, is born out of this fundamental and unexamined assumption that a material effect must have a material cause. I'm not suggesting that such explanations cannot be how God did what He did in Egypt, I'm saying that our need for such an explanation betrays a worldview that is not satisfied with the simpler explanation of Scripture: God did it.
As one who grew up in this culture, I also feel the pull of the scientific/emperical worldview. There is in me an innate skepticism about the miraculous, that tends to lean me more toward slight-of-hand, or the power of persuasion, or self-deception, or almost any other explanation, than that a miracle is an act of God. Even when they happen in front of my eyes, I sometimes have to consciously resist the pull of finding another explanation.
Such a mindset is based on a lie.
The Pull of Deism
What is Deism? Deism is the belief that God exists, but does not interact directly with His creation. He just lets things run their course. The analogy often used is that of a cosmic clock that God created and wound up: now it's running (until the alarm goes off!).
I know it may sound crazy to suggest that Deism has any following in our day, but when one looks at how folks talk and act, it seems Deism is alive and well in the church. Folks believe in God, but in a God who is "the Man upstairs" who never comes downstairs. He watches, He observes humans, but He doesn't really do anything to intervene. He left us a book; if we want to know anything about Him or what we're supposed to do, look at His book. He remains distant. Occasionally such a God answers prayers, but not very often. Mostly we're on our own. Oh, we should pray, God tells us to, but don't expect much.
The belief in an absent God fosters an orphan mindset that is interested in self-sufficiency and mere survival. It's a mindset that produces either selfishness, or stoic resolve. Such folks either are consumed with getting their needs met, or in living noble lives in a cruel world in which they will always be ultimately alone.
Such folks reinterpret Jesus promise "Surely I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20) to mean that either this promise was limited to those present to hear it, or to be a promise that means only He is always around somewhere, though actually unavailable to us. With such a mindset the Holy Spirit may indeed live in us, but He always does His work in utter silence never drawing attention to Himself. Somehow, for these folks, the Holy Spirit is at work in us, though we rarely see any actual evidence that He is.
Such a mindset is based on a lie.
The Pull of the Religious Mindset
The so-called "religious" mindset, comes from a worldview that assumes that what God wants are that certain things are done in a certain way, and that only if they are done such a way, will God be pleased (or at least less angry with us). So we need to say certain things in certain ways when we pray, we need to sing certain songs, and follow a certain liturgy, or order of service. Anything that deviates from our understanding of how God is to be approached is considered "strange fire" even if our practices have little direct precedent in Scripture, or if the 'other' practice does have some.
This is the mindset Bill most directly addresses in the quote above.
Ultimately the religious mindset wants to stay in control of our relationship with God by following the rules and proper procedure. It can be seen in every stream (Catholic, Reformed, Lutheran, Arminian, Baptist, Pentecostal, Liberal, Fundamentalist, etc.). It's mostly based on the fear that if we don't do things "just right" God will not be happy with us, if not actually punish us.
Sometimes this mindset pushes people into mere traditionalism, where God isn't even as important as doing the "churchy" things that make me feel like we did "church," where "church" is a synonym for spiritual nostalgia.
In the New Testament, it was the highly religious Pharisees that doubted the miracles of Jesus, or else attributed them to the demonic. One of the main reasons the Pharisees didn't believe in Jesus' miracles, was that He didn't agree with their theology or their religious practices. In our day, religious conservatives do the same.
Such a mindset is based on a lie.
Toward Adopting a Biblical Worldview
Without question, the worldview we find in the Bible has no trouble finding a non-material cause for a material effect. Just the first few chapters of Genesis establishes that: "God said, 'Let there be light' and there was light." God speaks and the world comes into being. From the beginning and throughout the pages of Scripture the spiritual world of God, angels and demons frequently have a direct impact with physical effects on the material world. There is no question about this. There is no hesitation on the part of the Biblical writers to explain the Sodom & Gomorrah stories as something other than God's direct judgment (no mention of volcanic eruption or a meteor shower), nor the star in the east, which settled over the place where Jesus was as a comet, a convergence of planets, or some other known astronomical phenomenon--it was God guiding them. When Jesus heals the sick, there's no indication that "what really happened" was something explainable and repeatable by modern medicine.
Throughout Scripture, from beginning to end, God intervenes, protecting His people and moving history toward it's ultimate destiny. The promises in Matthew 28:20 is not something true only theologically or mystically, but also practically true. Jesus is with us and available to us (through His Holy Spirit, Who lives in us--His temple). God is continuously and directly involved with His people.
When a miracle happens and God is praised for it (by others), which way do we lean, and which way should we lean? Should we lean toward doubt or belief? Skepticism or praise?
Let me suggest that a believing believer defaults to belief, rather than doubt or skepticism. As long as God is getting the praise (not the human instrument through which God is doing things), why not join in? Why not praise God along with the one getting healed and the one(s) through whom the healing comes (e.g.)?
I heard Eric Johnson (Bill Johnson's son) say that he would rather be gullible, and attribute a work to God that wasn't and praise Him for it, than be skeptical and miss it when it is. I think that's a healthy attitude and default. Besides, if God gets praised for the devils work, God still gets praised! That's a no-lose situation!
If we believe in a God who not only can, but actually does the miraculous in our day, then we need to confront our own hesitation, skepticism and unbelief as improper. There isn't some middle ground on this one. Either God is healing people of cancer, broken bones, mental illness, chronic back pain, etc. and must be praised for it, or it's all a sham, if not demonic. The scope of our belief must grow beyond trusting in Jesus for our ultimate destiny, while denying the rest of His work in our day!
Believe or don't. Pick one.
If the message of God is supposed to rest on demonstrations of the Spirit's power, and not on human wisdom or eloquence (1Corinthians 2:1-5), then not only will our belief system have to change, but so will the way we do ministry, and what we "allow" to be done! If we don't change something we won't be able to fully "represent Jesus in His power and glory."
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