Kingdom Leadership Network

 

      Peace and Joy

      What is the highest attainment in Christianity? That of complete union with God and total loss of self. In modern psychology there is also the so-called union of man with the invisible "mind" so as to cause him to lose his identity. This appears to be akin to Christianity, though in reality these two are far apart. The popular Dr. Frank Buchman (Oxford Group movement) advocated this kind of psychology. One of his teachings concerned meditation. He reckoned that meditation was all that was necessary for communication between man and God. He did not ask people to read the Bible at early morn; he only asked them to meditate and then to pray. The first thought which comesafter prayer, he proclaimed, is that thought which is given you by God. And so you must live through the day according to that thought. Who would ever think that this is but another type of silent sitting or abstract meditation? What is the effect of such meditation? You will be told that it will make you most peaceful and joyous. If you quietly direct your thought on whatever thing it may be for an hour, you too will get what is called peace and joy. Even if you meditate abstractly for one hour on no thought at all, you will still not fail to obtain this so-called peace and joy.

      The meditations of many people are simply a kind of psychic operation. Not so with the Christian faith. We need not meditate on God, for we already have God's life. We can know Him in our intuition, regardless what our feeling may be. We have within us an intuitive guidance to the knowledge of God. In addition we have the word of God. Whatever His word says, we believe. If we have faith, we can disregard feeling. Herein lie the differences between Christian faith and psychology.

     

      Wonders

      Let us look at wonders. I personally am not antagonistic to them. I have seen with my own eyes cases of instantaneous divine healing. Some people profess they can heal diseases. We do not oppose healing, we only contend with erroneous ways of healing. Some ask me if I oppose speaking in tongues. Certainly not, though I do question tongues which are obtained through faulty means. As to visions and dreams, I too have seen great light. We acknowledge that there are such things in the Bible. But I do resist visions and dreams which are obtained through unlawful means.

      The Bible speaks of the laying on of hands and the anointing with oil. Some,however, in laying hands on another's head, rub forcibly the back of the person's brain or his neck and keep on asking how that person feels. Naturally when he is massaged, his neck will feel heated up. This is such a low trick that even the hypnotists reject using it. We know that at the back of our brain is a big nerve which extends into the vertebrae. The one who massages may not realize that this is a kind of hypnosis. The one who is being massaged may sense a current of warmth passing through his vertebrae and may even be healed. Yet it is but the manifestation of the latent psychical power of man. In spite of his getting well, I cannot recognize it as divine healing.

      

      Let us talk about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. When I was in Shantung this time, I too told people to seek for it. Nevertheless, I do not approve of the shutting in of many people into a small room for several days' fasting, praying, and chorus singing. Should people do such a thing, it will not take too long for them to have their brain dazed, the will to be turned passive, and their lips to be made to utter strange and incoherent sounds or tongues. And in this way shall their latent power be released.

      In a meeting for seeking Spirit-baptism, people will keep shouting hallelujah for thousands of times.Eventually, their brain will grow dull, their mind becomes paralyzed, and they begin to see visions. How can you consider this as Spirit-baptism? It is but soul-baptism. What they receive is not the power of the Holy Spirit; it is instead soul force, the manifestation of the latent power of the soul. It comes from human exercise, not from the enduement of God. This is not the proper way for seeking the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Yet people are still coaching others in this way, a way they learn not at God's instruction but by their own past experiences.

      Some may ask, after reading this, "According to what you say, is it true that there are no real miracles?" Of course there are. We give thanks to God for all the miracles which come from Him. Nonetheless, we need to discern that if a miracle does not come from God, it is performed by the latent psychical power of man. When I was in Shantung I heard of a woman, palsied for many years, being completely healed. If her healing was truly of God, I would thank Him for her.

      

      Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, denied that there were death, sickness and pain; yet she died. However, the Church of Christ, Scientist outlives her and continues on prosperously. They still give assent to the notion that if a sick person believes he is not sick, he will feel no pain; if a dying person believes he will not die, he will not die. As a consequence, many people are healed. Their propagators merely try to strengthen man's psychic force for the relief of physical ailment. Through the release of man's latent power of the soul, bodily weakness is overcome.

      Because of the development of the soul's latent force, wonders are increasing nowadays. Of these wonders, many are highly supernatural and miraculous. Yet all these are only the manifestations of the latent power of the soul. Though I am no prophet, I have read books on prophecy. I learn that hereafter soul's latent power will have greater manifestations. For in the last days the enemy will seize upon man's psychic force to fulfill his work. If he succeeds in seizing this power, he will be able to do great wonders.

      There are two classes of people who hold to two extremes respectively. One class insists there is no wonder. When they hear about wonders such as divine healing, they refuse to listen. Another class lays stress on wonders so much that they do not care from what source come these wonders-from God or from the enemy. Today we should be careful not to bend to either extreme. Each time we see or hear of a wonder performed we must ask, Is this God's doing or the enemy's? Is it done by the Holy Spirit of God or by the law of human psychology?

      Today we should use our abilities-such as that of the mind, the will and the emotion-to do things, but we ought not express the latent power that is in our soul. The mind, emotion and will are man's psychic organs which he cannot help but use. For if man does not use them the evil spirit will take over their usage. However, if man desires to use the latent power behind these abilities, the evil spirit will begin to give him all kinds of counterfeit miracles. All works done by the soul and its psychic law are counterfeits. Only what is done by the power of the Holy Spirit is real. The Holy Spirit has His own law of operation. For it is stated in Romans 8.2, "the law of the Spirit of life". Thank God, the Holy Spirit is real, and the law of the Holy Spirit is factual. Wonders performed according to the law of the Holy Spirit come from God.

      It is extremely difficult for Moslems to believe in the Lord Jesus. There are therefore comparatively few who become Christians. Now how do the Moslems pray? Three times every day they do so in their mosques. They say that if anything needs to be done, pray in one accord with tens of thousands of people. "Consider the mass of Mahomedans at prayer in the great Jumna Mosque of Delhi," writes Mrs. PennLewis, "where an hundred thousand followers of Mahomet assemble inside the Mosque, with a still larger crowd engaged in prayer outside." For what were they praying? In unison they shouted that they wanted Turkey revived and freed from the domination of the white race. Their psychic force gained the victory. "It is sufficient," continues Mrs. Penn-Lewis, "to point to the revision of the Treaty of Sevres, under which all that was lost to Turkey had to be restored. A greater triumph of one Eastern nation over all Western nations put together, cannot be imagined. The explanation given, and believed in by millions in India, is expressed in the word 'soul-force'."* (*Mrs. Jessie Penn-I.ewis, Spirit and Soul. Poole, Dorset, England Overcomer Literature Trust, 1968?, p.56. Also available in the United States from Christian Literature Crusade, Fort Washington, Pa.)Unfortunately the prayers of many Christians are not answered by God but are attained by the projection of the latent power of their soul. They accomplish their goals in much the same way as the Moslems.

      Look now at the powers displayed in Hinduism. Some Hindus can walk on fire without being scorched. And this is not a fake. They walk on fire, and not just a few steps, but across a long course with their feet treading on red-hot iron; yet they are not hurt. Some of them can lie on beds with nails pointed up. (Naturally, those whom they consider beginners cannot bear such things and will feel pain and hurt.

      This too is a matter of the development of psychic power. How disastrous for believers to perform wonders with the same power which the Hindus use.

      Very often in meetings Christians can sense a sort of power pressing in on them, or even at times of prayer and Bible reading they may feel oppressed without any reason. All these come from Satan who uses psychic forces to depress us or to assault us. Experienced Christians all over the world are aware of the especially severe attacks of the enemy at the end of this age. Since the whole atmosphere of the world seems to be heavily charged with psychic force, we need to hide ourselves under the Lord's precious blood and be protected by it.

      While listening to a sermon in a huge cathedral, you can sense almost instantly if soul power is in operation-whether there is something present which seems to be inciting you. Although the preacher may announce that some people have repented and have been saved, you need to consider the consequences for those proclaimed to be saved. For there has been the mixing in of improper power into the work. If the power has come from God-which is that of God's Spirit-you would have felt light and clear. But psychic force as used by the enemy is aroused by the presence of a big crowd. May we be able to discern the difference lest we too be deceived.