“Using what appears to be snippets of a few of the Church Fathers on miraculous gifting that were obtained probably from a brief Google search of charismatic websites, Chandler claims that the first 500 years of church history were replete with accounts of the miraculous. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.”
(Pulpit & Pen) Something eventually happens to everyone who calls themselves a Charismatic Calvinist;” they eventually become all of one thing and none of the other. Like with Mark Driscoll, the charismatic side of the Charismatic Calvinist grows and grows more wildly out of control as claims of dubious supernatural manifestations grow so pervasive that it strangles out any vestiges of good theology that remain. One simply cannot deny the sufficiency of Scripture (which is the foundational anthesis of the Charismatic Movement) for very long without having it grow like a pervasive and invasive fungus upon the rest of their theology, stifling and snuffing out anything wholesome or true.
This is especially seen in Matt Chandler of the Village Church, who Reformed believers have witnessed take a tragic trajectory toward mysticism, myth, water-down theology and old wives’ tales, and – most recently – egalitarianism and the Social Gospel. Long ago is the day that Chandler threw shade at Steven Furtick during the Code Orange Revival for practicing narcigesis and today Chandler speaks alongside the most nefarious Bible-twisters on the planet without any kind of protest. Endorsing Ann Voskamp – who writes theoerotic literature about making love to God – is not cool. It’s awful. Praying Jesus Culture “over” your church (the music group of what might be the most dangerous church in the country, Bethel Church in Redding, California) is nauseatingly off-putting for a serious-minded pastor. Repeatedly endorsing wild-eyed prophetess (who has the spiritual gift of speaking ecstatic utterance while still speaking English), Beth Moore, is – again – a monumental lack of discernment. Teaching the charismatic style of “binding and loosing” spirits is a bizarre departure from orthodoxy. Endorsing Lent isn’t exactly a historic practice for Protestants, let alone Reformed Protestants, let alone Particular Baptists (it has been gaining momentum the further we depart from the Reformation, however). Village Church pastors engaging in non-evangelical Interfaith Dialogues (dialogues where evangelism is not allowed) with Muslims isn’t good. Writing the foreword to Third Wave charismatic, Sam Storm’s book, “Practicing the Power,” is an atrocious departure from Reformed Theology. Chandler’s embrace of Islamic radical extremist groups in the name of a well-intentioned evangelical kumbaya was insanely wrong.
Aside from adopting the social justice, functional post-millennial culture-conquering common to New Calvinism (for an explanation of New Calvinism, click here), most of these errors are entirely due to one thing – Chandler’s insistence that the Apostolic Sign Gifts (which were only seen in Scripture as practiced by Apostles or by those upon whom the Apostles laid their hands) is for Christians today. One thing cannot be denied; the more charismatic Chandler has become, the worse the rest of his theology has become.
In a video which Charisma Mag celebratorily says is Chandler “showing off his new theology,”he begins by quoting Andrews Wilson, who claims to be a Reformed Charismatic, insisting that there is no discernible difference between the Apostolic church and the church today, setting up the supposition that if we see certain Apostolic Sign Gifts in the Bible, we should see them today (for an explanation on why being both a Calvinist and a Charismatic are contradictory and inconsistent, click here).
Research: