THE ANOINTING FOR SALE

Take a look at this quote:

"…the students are immersed in what the Lord is doing, filled to overflowing and are taking it with them when they go…"

I do not at all wish to discount "laying on of hands" as a way that God may work in regards to the Holy Spirit. In Acts 8:12-18, for instance, Philip had preached the gospel in the city of Samaria and the people received salvation and were baptized. However, the apostles in Jerusalem had to send Peter and John to Samaria, because the Holy Spirit "had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus (vs. 16- NIV) It was only upon the ministry of Peter and John, who laid hands on the believers, that the believers there at Samaria received the Holy Spirit:

"Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money and said, "Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." (Acts 8:18-19)

Peter and John were doing something in a way that was not always done, though. In the book of Acts, people did not always receive the 'baptism' of the Holy Spirit in that way. Yet Simon, being a sorceror and carnal of mind, saw two people who seemed to 'possess' the special power to 'make' the presence and power of the Holy Spirit fall upon believers. Since Peter and John 'had' the Holy Spirit, Simon naturally figured it was like any other possession—Something to be purchased or bought.

Nothing could be further from the truth. We don't get a 'piece of the action' by purchasing it, and thus Simon was soundly rebuked for the motives of his heart:

Peter answered:

"May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart." (Acts 8:20-21)

"The `School of Ministry' (SoM) began at the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (TACF) in September 1995 and has had eight classes pass through the program. Folly's End Church in Croydon, England has

for four years had strong links with TACF and is a Partners in Harvest Church….." It is for, "Young adults 18 - 35 who wish to develop their leadership potential…" "The School is primarily geared for singles…" It costs, "£2,500," which covers, " All accommodation and food. Tuition and books. Travel to and from outreaches..."

TACF School of Ministry

What's the purpose of the School of Ministry?

We think of this as a "school of the heart", versus a Bible school or seminary. We hear pastors saying, "Don't give us people loaded with information, give us young leaders with healthy hearts and teachable character -- we'll fill in the specifics." So we've designed the SoM program to emphasize personal renewal, practical ministry experience and Godly character-building.

What makes SoM different from other programs?

The key difference is that the School is church-based: it operates in the context of a local congregation, and its goal is to train up young church leaders. The other distinction is that the School is in

the midst of the Holy Spirit's outpouring here in Toronto –the students are immersed in what the Lord is doing, filled to overflowing and are taking it with them when they go.

How much does the course cost?

The cost of the Fall school will be $5630.00 (CDN), which covers instruction, housing, food, transportation, a mid-term month long outreach, books and materials. A $30 non-refundable fee is to be included with the completed application form. A $500 deposit is due on acceptance to the school. This deposit secures your place and is not refundable. The balance is payable in full at registration. Amounts are subject to change, so be sure to check with us closer to the time you are thinking of registering.

What happens after?

Most SoM graduates return to their home church to serve and encourage their local congregation and help "spread the fire", either as lay people or staff. Others go on to missions organizations or other training schools. Some go on to plant churches from their home congregations.

It can seem rather scandalous to discuss Toronto in such a way, especially to people who have reportedly been blessed or healed by the 'renewal' there. The reason I do so is because I would like everyone to know the beginning ethics of Toronto, and not just what they are doing today.

When Toronto started out in renewal, there was no money asked for up front at their meetings. There were reports of people going there, getting the "Toronto Blessing" and sometimes, somehow, taking 'revival' back to the place they returned to. This created an expectation, because people do tend to expect what has happened previously to be repeated. We can question whether the expectation was right or wrong, or how much it was promoted and whether that was right or wrong. However, what we need to know today is that earlier, there was no money charged with this expectation attached.

I know that we Americans have been desensitized to the selling of Christianity. We started with Christian stores that sold Christian books and trinkets. Then, we started having numerous scandals of ministers who fleece the sheep while living the lifestyle of a king. We also have denominations who rake in large sums of money and build opulent headquarters, while their local ministers and churches live impoverished—(the average believer has no idea how much of the money given for the local church or minister can disappear into these "dues"). Now, we have Christian conferences that, once you add the hotel and travel costs, are well beyond the price-range of a typical family vacation. And the conference holders will ask for even more money while you are there!

So, since we are so desensitized to all of this, why not 'sell' revival too?

Because it is an abomination to do so, like everything else cheapened to the carnality of Simon the Magician.

It is witchcraft.

I once asked a Christian brother who is much more familiar with revival history than I am this question: Did any revivalist in our history charge money up-front to attend their meetings or conferences, with the expectation and understanding that revival was to be had there? The answer was, "No."

Most Protestants tend to think the definition of superficial religion is the observance of empty sacraments. This may cause them to overlook their own formulas or practices that have more to do with outer form rather than the message of Christ. I am deeply disturbed, therefore, over the development of a formula that is as evil and dark as any 'indulgences' prior to Martin Luther's Reformation. That is, that people are taught to believe they don't have enough 'oomph' of the Holy Spirit without it being from a man-generated source. The formula can be expressed this way: "The 'anointing' is here. Revival is here. Come get it, and pay your money at the door." The reverse implication, of course, is that you don't have the anointing unless you get it (purchase it) from them.

One of the most stunning displays of American commercialism in Christianity I have ever seen in my life was at the 1998 Light the Nation conference. Throughout the conference, ads flashed up on overhead projector proclaiming "Catch the Fire" and "Bring Home the Anointing," in conjunction with a suggestion to buy particular audio or videotapes of the meetings there. Clearly the objects, I guess, were blessed beyond measure with the power to spread revival. Not only that, but at every opportunity the Colorado-based officiators plugged one book or another that was available in the back room, often while introducing the next speaker. This back room was a very large room devoted to the selling of wares, complete with author's booths for signings! (I am not saying anything here I was not willing to say to those present. In fact, I did briefly and quietly talk to a major renewal leader at his signing booth about the spirit of commercialism. He just smiled at me.)

In contrast to the clear implication that the anointing could be packaged and bought, were the Argentine revivalist teachings. While the Americans suggested that the Argentine revivalists were there to pass the anointing on, the Argentines took almost every opportunity to teach that the Holy Spirit was Living Water, and we need not depend on them or anyone else for the anointing.

Besides the Argentine's lack of participation in commercialism messages, other differences surfaced on how each group viewed aspects of revival. For instance, John Arnott excused Toronto from street ministry because they were "still praying for anointing" before they go out in streets/ministering outside church. They wanted to "have more of Jesus's anointing for miracles like healing lepers, and they were still praying about it..." Shortly thereafter, the Argentine Pablo Deiros quietly stated "If we commit ourselves to obey what the Lord says in the Word, we will immediately be in revival."82

The Argentines were there both to exhort us that the Lord would bring revival to the U.S., and to lovingly show us what they had learned in their country. However, upon witnessing the contrast between messages and the spiritual climate, whether implied or spoken outright, I was impressed by one thing for certain: That is, the incredible 'spiritual battle' any bonafide revival would have in reaching through American nationalistic spiritual pride, religious sectarian spirit, and monetary focus. Jaded Americans are already suspicious because of false prophets and teachers, and their legacy would also be a part of this battle.

Scripture says that two cannot walk together (make an appointment or contract) unless they agree. Unfortunately I already see evidence of American ministers attempting to 'walk' with the Argentines while missing or refusing the main focus of their messages. This is not about style or flexibility in the Argentine plan. They welcome the allowance that each region prayerfully pursue their own leading of the Spirit and not conform to a strictly dictated model. This is about key teachings and spiritual understanding.

As an example, during the course of the writing of this text, I received an American e-mail announcement regarding an American expression of the "Light-House Prayer Movement" in a certain state. As I began to read it, my heart sank. This e-mail seemed to represent the Argentine revival plan and mainstays, and then turned around and contradicted it at a very foundational level. As examples, prayer was proposed as "five weeks of praying five blessings for five neighbors, five minutes a day, as suggested in the Five Blessings brochure…." It seems with this formula plus the prayer walking, there was no need for actual contact with secular neighbors to ask them what we may pray for. Also, instead of contacting secular government officials to ask what we may pray for them personally, the proposal was for "Christians who work in local government and businesses to pray and develop plans to make their city a better place to live. These groups are called Round Tables". Each Round Table was supposed to connect up with other Round tables and then give "unified proposals to all levels of Government."

Preceding all of this was a testimonial from a pastor about how Light Houses had resulted in personal benefits in their lives, an increase in church numbers, the enthusiastic participation of church members, and the renewed financial success of his church. While the Argentine revivalists also give the encouragement of new conversions and a healthier expression of Christianity in a city, this is vastly different than the beginning testimonials in "That None Should Perish." Ed Silvoso spoke of personal spiritual attack that nearly debilitated him, strange and difficult trials and tribulations against the faithful, adultery exposed in church leadership, and confusion so great that in La Plata, most of the 2,000 "houses of prayer" had "disappeared" after only six months.

This is why we cannot enter the prospect of Revival with a 'bless me' attitude or expectation. We are doomed from the start if we do that, and will settle for a false or ineffectual 'revival'. In addition, we must toss aside certain unscriptural national or religious cultural biases. Ed Silvoso addressed this in his "That None Should Perish" book, which by the way is listed in the ISB description on the inside page as "Evangelistic work---United States." Quoting from pages 70- 71:

Often our idea of revival is extremely self-serving, and thus, unbiblical. A revival that fails to bring the lost to Jesus is a self-serving revival, centered on man's needs and wants, and not on God's glory. Many times our cry for revival has the implicit hope that if revival comes, our pews will fill up, finances will abound, counseling will no longer be so demanding and the ministry in general will be more enjoyable. We tend to confine the "healing of the land" promised in 2 Chronicles 7:14 to the healing of the Church. But the healing of the land requires primarily the healing of the lost...The greater number of them who come to Christ and live the Christian life in all godliness and dignity, the greater the scope of the healing of the land. The ultimate expression of revival is the conversion of the unsaved.

On this point, we are further hindered by cultural myopia and a distorted historical prespective. Our notions of revival are sometimes dictated by theological assumptions hatched in context in which Church and state rule together.

First, we project onto the New Testament Church the image of the theocracy of God over Israel.

Second, we often perceive the Church as one in partnership with a somewhat "Christian" state. This first occurred in the fourth century under Emperor Constantine and eventually led to the union of Church and State in the Middle Ages. It also happened in England in the seventeenth century after the religious schism with the Catholic Church. In America, this is further compounded by the belief that America was, and still is, a Christian nation.

We need to find our real spiritual roots, and go further back than the tents with 'Jesus trinkets' under them like in the Jesus festivals back in the late 1970's. We have become so jaded and so compromised that we are no longer selling little cross necklaces or 'ice-breaker' Christian momentos for our trucks and cars, or even Bibles. No, now we are selling the anointing and revival, and the Holy Spirit.

Surely there was a time when revival came by praying alone, and not by magical physical contact from person to person or object or video into your house. I am not speaking against anything that would be like Peter's shadow falling on people for healing, such as in the miraculous account of Acts 5:12-16, should such an unusual thing occur again. I am talking about rejecting purchasable pieces of God, for they are a lie. A prayer cloth dropping out of the envelope, at a monetary price. Promises by the minister that if you will only come and pay the pied piper, you as 'students' can take the 'anointing' of your heroes with you!

Surely the revivalist preachers of old did not lead intercessory prayer meetings toward revival, only to take the resulting cash flow for themselves-- purchasing expensive, high security houses on the cheaper real estate of a near-by southern state. These houses and things I am quite certain would not be there had it not been for the revival. How is it that the rank and file intercessors did not get a cut of this cash flow, if that indeed is how you want to treat revival? Surely there was a time when the towns and cities were covered with the presence of God, with the people of America weeping in new devotion for God. It must have been the Great Awakening, when the 'anointing' wasn't a cash cow.

Let us consider the self-sacrifice shown in the brief life of a colonial minister and missionary, David Brainard. A close friend of Jonathan Edwards, he died at the home of Edwards in 1747, before the age of 30 from "consumption" (tuberculosis). We know of his missionary trips to the Indians because it was Edwards who published Brainard's diary. Brainard traveled over a thousand miles by horseback, canoe, or foot through rugged terrain to preach to various American Indian tribes. Hardship and illness did not slow him down, as he ministered to these Indians with unyielding dedication and for no financial gain.

These northeastern Indians were a mostly friendly, yet tough, lot. This was a people who thought the white man was so hilariously stupid compared to the Indian, that his god must be stupid too. They were unimpressed by most white men, because they were convinced that white men lied, stealed, and murdered more than they did.86

David Brainard knew he could not convert the Indians in spite of his efforts, although he loved them greatly, so he prayed that God would. At times he was sure his efforts were a failure and became very depressed.

Nevertheless through all his weaknesses, God met Brainard and the Indians. One day, as Brainard was preaching about the love and compassion of God to send His Son, the Indians began to sob under the conviction of the Holy Spirit.87 At times, the Indians 'fell' under the power of God, too weak to rise and unable to get up, as they cried out to Him for mercy in their conviction.88 The text for two of these messages, in which afterwards, the Indians "could not stand or walk," was Isaiah 54:3-10.

Brainard was surprised by the reaction of the Indians to his preachings, who displayed a certain conviction and distress over their sinful hearts, since their reaction did not seem to match the content of his preachings. He had not preached any terror of God, and yet the fear of God struck them and pierced their hearts, time and again. One elderly Indian woman even experienced a spontaneous dream or vision regarding entering the narrow gate toward Heaven. David Brainard was "distressed by her story", since he thought trances and visions were "dangerous" and most likely "one of Satan's devices." He only reluctantly accepted this vision as being from God because the woman underwent a remarkable change of heart, along with a renewed mind regarding spiritual truths.90

By God's intervention in conjunction with Brainard's ministry, many Indians found the joy and assurance of salvation. What was Brainard's secret? Love and earnest prayer. Not money, prestige, magic, book sales, round table meetings, or conferences of 'international apostolic and prophetic leaders.' Love and commitment and unselfish devotion and love for the lost.

Perhaps that guy who gave the ridiculous 'Beatle song' prophecy for revival was right. We should all sing, "Can't buy me love." It will do just as well for revival as selling it!
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Footnote #82  direct quotes from the author's notes as she attended the "Panel of Revivalists" session at the Light The Nation conference referred to in the text.
Footnote #86  pp. 94-95 God Made Them Great, by John Tallach
Footnote #87  pp. 91, David Brainerd, by Ranelda Hunsicker (Men of Faith series), copyright 1999, Bethany House Publishers
Footnote #88  pp. 104, God Made Them Great, by John Tallach,
Footnote #90  pp. 105-106 David Brainerd, by Ranelda Hunsicker

© Copyright 2000  by Teri Lee Earl All Rights Reserved