| Author | Message | ||
| Martin Registered user Username: Martin Post Number: 6 Registered: 11-2008 |
A few weeks ago a friend invited me to go to a cell group meeting, from that church I commented about in the other thread... So after a couple of weeks where nobody knew exactly where they would be meeting, we went there this night. The group, mostly students from the universities in my city, was very nice and welcoming. We had some dinner and then started with the meeting. They were talking about the activities they would like to do with the cell group in the new year, and then one of the girls said something like "we could do some prophecy". Oh! A red alarm turned on in my head! I decided to wait and see what she was talking about. Of course, I supposed, it wouldn't be any EGW stuff... But, well, you never know. However, another girl commented about doing some "prophecy" in another group, about asking God to receive a picture in your mind and then another person would ask God to help with the interpretation of that thing, or something like that. I was totally confused! They were talking about something completely different than what I was thinking about. You can imagine the ideas that the word "prophecy" brought to my mind. I had read in all these websites about the different meanings that some words have in the SDA world with respect to protestant/evangelical christianity... But I never really experienced that before tonight. Later they decided to pray for healing, laying hands, and I also felt like I was completely foreign to that experience. It made me think that there might be a lot of stuff for me to learn, or re-learn again. Later, I was coming back home with this friend who invited me and then I told her about everything I was going through... She already knew something but not with much detail, only that I was thinking about leaving my church. Since she didn't know much about the SDA church I had to start from the 'basics' and then progress slowly... The expression in her face when she realised that my decision to leave the SDA church would mean that I'm 'lost' and how hard this step can be for me was invaluable  It was nice to be able to explain all that to somebody who is not familiar with the mess that the SDA church can be and since I had to go step by step so she could have a minimally clear understanding of the situation, it was also good for me to put in order all those ideas in my own mind. After that I came back home, thinking that there's no way that I could stay in that mess, with so many things that are clearly and plainly wrong. | ||
| Raven Registered user Username: Raven Post Number: 957 Registered: 7-2004  |
Sounds like a major red flag to me, and certainly not Biblical. Where is the precedence in the Bible for asking God to receive a picture in your mind and then asking for God to help interpret? There are still many errors even outside the SDA church, so everything needs to be compared to the Bible. As far as I know, the Bible teaches the Holy Spirit decides who is getting what gifts - we don't have much to do with it. The description posted almost sounds like a game or experiment. | ||
| Daisie_girl Registered user Username: Daisie_girl Post Number: 56 Registered: 9-2008 |
Martin, your experience sounds similar to some very charismatic experiences that I had with some old, non-sda churches I used to attend. In order to speak in toungues, all you had to do was speak nonsense and then it would come! I'm serious!! "Speak nonsense and God's holy language will come to you!"? Oh, it leaves me in awe sometimes! The way people, SDA or non-SDA can minimize God to this nonsense. , my-own interpretation, or even building a theological point on something that hasn't even happened yet? So did they come to a conclusion on the prophecies? Anyway, I'm thankful that the whole thought process and minimilization came! It's amazing how it hits each of us differently! | ||
| Joyfulheart Registered user Username: Joyfulheart Post Number: 359 Registered: 10-2006 |
I'm totally with Raven on this one. Prophecy just does not work this way. It is a gift given by the Holy Spirit to edify the church. We do not decide we are to get a prophetic message from the Lord. Prophetic messages need to be judged just as messages in tongues do. Are the leaders of this group accountable to anyone? Martin, this not the way most "cell" or small groups operate. I say, "Flee, danger, warning! Something is very wrong here." This sounds like the whim of a curious believer seeking a deeper experience with God. I hope and pray that there are some more mature believers around to guide and give spiritual counsel. | ||
| Martin Registered user Username: Martin Post Number: 7 Registered: 11-2008 |
Thanks for the answers. I always thought that the gifts were something given by God whenever He wanted to give them and He saw that there would be some purpose on it... Not when we wanted to receive them. I still have that idea, but I must confess that since some time ago I am, maybe, more 'open' with those manifestations that are typical in charismatic churches. And since in some ways I'm new to all this, then I wasn't totally sure what to do with it. Well, the guys doing that cell group are quite young... So I guess it might be related with that. They're at the university but younger than me. I'm what they call a 'mature student' here. Only 28 years old anyway In any case, it's a quite humbling feeling, you know? At least it made me remember that I do not know everything. Not that I was thinking that way before, but anyway it's good to be put in your place. At the moment I'm just visiting different churches around. The church where that cell group belongs has other cell groups, but at the moment I want to take a look at a couple other churches. Thanks for the warning. Now I might keep a bit of distance for a time and see what I find in the other places |
