A Pastor's ExperienceMrs Mumford then proceeds to give an example of what is taking place in Toronto. "When I was in Toronto I was at a Pastor's Seminar, and the place was full of weary pastors—men and women who had become weary in well doing, and who had crawled to Toronto to meet the Lord. And many of them testified to the things that God had done. There was one middle-aged man who had been labouring as a pastor for 20/25 years and he came to Toronto and the Lord fell on him and he became as drunk as a newt—for days! And after several days he recovered himself enough to get back to the microphone and was asked to give a testimony which he in a fairly, I might say, incoherent fashion. And then they said to him. May we pray for your more? And He said, I'd love it, and out he went, rolling around the floor as if he'd just walked out of the Golden Calf, or whatever. He was just out of his mind, and it was a wonderful thing to see." Drunkenness! Is this a Christian virtue now ? It is, we're told, if it's not as the result of alcohol, but of the presence of the Spirit. But why is there not even one verse in Scripture to support this? The only one which touches these issues at all surely must be Ephesians 5: "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but befitted with the Spirit." Ephes. 5:18 The word "drunk" is a negative word meaning "intoxication", but the word "filled" is a positive word meaning being full to overflowing. Intoxication means being out of one's mind, unable to function with normal faculties, due to a poisoning influence on the mind. To be filled with the Spirit is just the opposite—being in full control of one's faculties, in a right mind, fully in control, yet overflowing with blessing. In no way, in an accepted exegetic manner, can this word be used to indicate a condition of apparent drunkenness. Mrs Mumford describes her personal revulsion at ordinary alcoholic drunkenness through her experiences of it in her family. However, she says that when she went to Toronto, "God healed me of all that anguish and of all that past, as I saw the real thing. And I saw what it was to be drunk in the Spirit. It was a sweet and wonderful thing." What possible Scriptural justification can there be for this? As explained in the previous paragraph, so-called being "drunk in the Spirit" is a travesty of interpretation, an unscriptural phrase, an unbiblical concept, and an insult to the true work of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus describes the work of the Holy Spirit as a "Comforter", meaning One who gives strength, stands alongside, as an advocate (defender and supporter). "When He has come. He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see me no more; of judgement, because the ruler of this world is judged.... When He, the Spirit of Truth has come. He mil guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you." John 16:8-11,13-14 The Holy Spirit will glorify Christ, by making those whom He calls by grace, those to whom He grants New Birth, in the image of Christ. His is a sanctifying work—to make the people of God holy, to make them righteous as Christ is righteous, with His righteousness, to separate them unto a holy God. This doesn't sit comfortably with a concept of being "drunk in the Spirit".
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Copyright © 2002 Homerton Baptist Church. |
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