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Micael Grenholm, a Swedish charismactivist, apologist and author.
Medically Unexplained Healing from Rare Neurological Disorder
There are many well documented reports of unexplained healings. This is one of them.
For nearly 20 years Ema Mckinley suffered with a condition known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, a rare neurological disorder that left her disfigured and wheelchair bound. Through all the pain and near death experiences, her faith never wavered.
Ema says, “God was my partner in all of this and the strength and help He would give me, I could get through one more day!”
It was in the very early morning hours on Christmas Eve 2011, Ema’s life would forever change. A miracle as she tells it, was about to take place. (more…)
Don Murphy: “Full Gospel” Includes Both Miracles and Sharing Material Goods
The Pentecostal Hutterite Don Murphy writes in his pamphlet The Church and the Narrow Path, to which I agree completely:
The Book of Acts chapter 2 records the birth of the Church of Jesus Christ and it describes what that Church was like. In the first part of Acts 2, we see the Church born in the power of the Holy Spirit, just as Jesus said (Acts 1:8). Then in the last part of Acts 2, we see the lifestyle of the early church, they were together daily, sharing their lives together, giving up private possessions as Jesus commanded (Luke 14:33), having all material possessions in common.
Using Acts 2 as a guide, we see that there are four types of churches today.
- Churches that bear little resemblance to the description of the Church in Acts 2 since they do not expect to have the power of the Holy Spirit in them as was in the early church and they do not follow the holy lifestyle of the early church as shown in the last part of Acts 2.
- Churches that meet the description of the early church in the first part of Acts 2. They do proclaim the power of the Holy Spirit with demonstrated signs and wonders. The Pentecostal churches fit this description. They like to say that they are ‘Full Gospel’ churches but they actually are only ‘Half Gospel’ churches since they do not fit the description of the last part of Acts 2.
- Churches that meet the description of the early church in the last part of Acts 2, meeting together daily and having all material goods in common. This is a very rare church indeed! However, they tend to not expect the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives as did the early church.
- Churches that meet the description of the entire chapter of Acts 2, a true ‘Full Gospel’ church. They not only proclaim the power of the Holy Spirit with demonstrated signs, wonders and holy living but also meet together daily and share all material goods in common as did the early church. Where does this church exist today?
When we use Acts chapter 2 as a guide we find that the way to the Kingdom of God is narrow indeed!
“Struggle to enter the Kingdom through the narrow door. The road to hell is wide with plenty of room and most go that way. But the door is small and the path is hard and narrow that leads to life and only a few find it.” (Mt 7:13-14, Luke 13:23-24).
The Bible is nothing without the Holy Spirit
The title above may seem provocative to some, but it shouldn’t be. The Bible is holy only because the Holy Spirit inspired it. And so, there is no opposition between studying the Word and pursuing the presence of the Author. I don’t agree with everything Bill Johnson says, but to these words, qouted from an article in Charisma News, I say amen:
Bill Johnson
For decades, maybe centuries, the church has gathered weekly around a sermon. Our reasons are noble: We value the Scriptures and know that our lives are to be anchored in truth. But the study of the Scriptures is meant to launch us into an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ.
In that moment of connection, we obtain life. Without encountering the One to whom Scriptures point, we are a people to be pitied. As Jesus told the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40).
Nearly every leader wants revival in one way or another, and many want healings, deliverances and miracles. But it’s hard to have the same fruit as the early church when we value a book they didn’t have above the Holy Spirit they did have.
That statement is not intended to get us to put less value on Scripture. That would be a great mistake. I simply point to the fact that without the Holy Spirit, the Bible is a closed book. The Bible was written in such a way that only those in relationship with God have ongoing access to its mysteries. The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see truth. Jesus is the truth we long to understand. Jesus Christ is perfect theology.
The church camps around the sermon; Israel camped around the presence. Learning to recognize, treasure and carry this presence is at the heart of the Christian life. Recalibrating our hearts to this supreme value affects everything.
A Pacifist Miracle Worker
One of my best friends, who is called Michael (just like me) is an inspiring example of the combination of signs and wonders with peace and justice. He is a peacemaker, active in the Swedish Christian Peace Movement and a prophetic voice for nonviolence and pacifism. We have made som films advocating for an international, strong, binding trade agreement on arms, since arms are lessed regulated than for example bananas in the international trade. An example of such a film is viewed below.
While Michael thus is a passionate activist, he is also a passionate Charismatic. He prophecies, lays his hands on the sick, speak in tongues and pray for revival. He has realised that Christians should follow Jesus so that the signs that characterised Jesus’ life: miracles and care for the poor, will characterise their life. Jesus said:
The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. (Mt 11:5)
Imagine Benny Hinn shouting: “Woe to you who are rich!”
Luke 6 is one of my favourite chapters in the Bible. A “great number of people” from all over Israel gather around Jesus, for two reasons: to hear Him preach, and to get healed from their diseases. And healed they are, all of them. Demons are cast out. Power is flowing out from Jesus. In other words, there’s full-scale revival. Then He starts to preach:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God!”
In this Charismatic revival scenario, Jesus starts to talk about the poor. He goes on with blessing the hungry, the weeping and the hated. They are blessed. They are loved. The needy, broken and oppressed are healed phycially and spiritually by the compassionate Saviour.
But then the faith healer gets angry.
“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort!”
Jesus warns and critizises the rich, the wel-fed and the comfortable. They have to repent. God wants economic equality (2 Cor 8:14), His love basically cannot remain in people keeping their money for themselves instead of giving them to the needy (1 Jn 3:17).
Now, what I love with this passage is the obvious and natural combination of miracles with a divine call for economic justice. It’s a typical example of Holy Spirit activism. How come that we’ve managed to separate healing revivals from global justice? How come that healing revivalist Benny Hinn rather preaches a “blessed are you who are rich” message? How come that Christian activist Jim Wallis isn’t conducting any miracle crusades? It’s quite obvious that Jesus did both things in Luke 6. And we should do what Jesus did (1 Jn 2:6).
Community of Goods at the Jesus Army
Is it really possible to share everything, like the apostles did on Pentecost (Acts 2:44-45), today? Many Christians in the Western world seem to think that the community of goods is an unrealistic utopia, and thus, they don’t even try to live like the apostles. But the Jesus Army in the UK proves that it indeed is possible to live a New Testament life. Many of their church members live in the New Creation Christian Community, where they share everything, just like in the book of Acts. They write:
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
Practising a radical ‘New Creation’ lifestyle in the Jesus Fellowship
You don’t have to live in Christian community to belong to the Jesus Fellowship! But many of us do! Around 700 of us share our possessions and pool our income and wealth (if we have any!) to live like the early Christians. They had “all things in common”[Acts 2:44] and “no-one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own”.[Acts 4:32]
That was the result of the power of the Holy Spirit coming on the church at Pentecost. And our community life, too, is the result of the Holy Spirit’s presence. We have power to love! Power to serve! Power to share!
We’re able to break the mould. To escape from the rut. The question we ask is “How does God want us to live?” Of course it’s to love. Of course it’s to share. Of course it’s to show that through new life in Jesus He brings into being a new way of living!
Jesus had little to call His own.[Matt 8:20] He shared a pooled fund with His disciples.[Mark 10:28] He warned of the love of money.[Mark 10:21,22] Small wonder then that Peter led the new converts at the day of Pentecost into Christian community.
All of Pentecost
Pentecost is a forgotten holiday, when even Pentecostals celebrate Valentine’s day more than they celebrate Pentecost, it is obvious that we have a problem. We have to celebrate Pentecost – not by starting some strange tradition of dressing trees with small tongues of fire and eating dove-formed chocolate – but by intensively praying for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost, as it is described in Acts chapter 2, is repeatable, and that is fantastic news for the sleeping church in the Western world.
When the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2 there was indeed an explosion of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit – tongues, healing, prophecy etc. – but also of the sanctifying fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace etc. These fruits are not only nice feelings, they lead to a radical lifestyle. On Pentecost, the first Christians had everything in common; they put economic equalization into practice, while they were performing signs and wonders. The charismatic gifts were combined with poverty reduction.
Charismatic Poverty Reduction
In 2010, a 20 year-old woman named Teresa Jebiwot participated in a revival meeting in Kisumu, southern Kenya. She was born without a cornea, which made her totally blind, not knowing if it was day or night unless someone told her. On the revival meeting however, she got completely healed when the prophet David Owour prayed for her, and she started to see perfectly. This was verified by an eye specialist, Dr. Agnes Maiyo, at the Iten District Hospial. More information about the healing can be found here.
I find this very beautiful; it is not easy to be blind in such a poor country as Kenya, but the wonderworking power of God did what no aid organisation can do. Teresa’s healing is a contemporary parallel to Bartimaeus’ healing in Mark 10:46-52. He was a blind beggar, and when Jesus healed him, three things happened: Firstly, people realized that God exist. Secondly, Bartimaeus could see God’s beautiful creation. Thirdly, he never had to beg again. Jesus used a miracle to set him free from poverty. Signs and wonders was combined with social justice. (more…)
Charismactivism 