Revising Our Awareness of the Divine

In 1993, what came to be known as the “Toronto Blessing” hit the United States. Rodney Howard-Browne held his first convention in the Carpenter’s Home Church in Lakeland, Florida.

That convention went on for weeks. From there, it quickly spread to other parts of North America—most notably Toronto, Canada; Melbourne, Florida; and Pensacola, Florida.

Upon hearing about the new move of God in March of 1993, I traveled to Lakeland and sat in on those first meetings where “the blessing” had just begun. In January 1996, I traveled to Melbourne, Florida, and attended a meeting officiated by Randy Clark when the phenomenon had spread there in full force.

I will not share my observations in this chapter. But I’m glad I went to those meetings.

Ever since I’ve been a Christian, I’ve had an insatiable hunger to know my Lord more deeply. If I hear a report that God is uniquely at work in a given place, I’ll move heaven and earth to visit it. This is what prompted me to check out those early meetings in Lakeland and Melbourne.

One thing I saw in those meetings is something I have observed ever since I’ve been a Christian. Namely, a large portion of the Christian population is seeking a fresh touch from God. They are seeking to experience His presence.

Some, however, appear to be almost pathologically dependent on trying to “feel” God’s presence. For these souls, “feeling” the presence of the Lord becomes a benchmark to measure their spiritual condition.

I spent most of my early Christian life drinking deeply from the wells of a particular movement that stressed the miraculous power of God. While I learned many valuable lessons in that movement, I also have a few reservations. One of them is that the propensity to seek “the felt-presence of God” in that movement is central and overwhelming.

I watched many Christians struggle with this quest to the point of concluding that something was wrong with them—that God loved them less—all because they weren’t “feeling” or “sensing” His presence on a regular basis. 

On the other hand, I have known Christian women and men who were utterly devoted to the Lord, extremely gifted, spiritually insightful, and fruitful. Yet in private, their confession was that they had never “felt” the presence of God. 

I’ve also personally known Christians who were in dire spiritual straits. Some were living double lives. Yet they didn’t wince at their poor condition, because during worship services or prayer times they regularly “felt” the presence of God.

This being said, I believe there’s a great deal of confusion over the matter of God’s presence. Part of it is rooted in semantics. Another part is rooted in bad theology. Either way, it’s an area where revision is desperately needed.

Let’s look at the semantic problem first. (Semantics refers to the words we use to express certain concepts.)

From Revise Us Again by Frank Viola, author

We all were born into Adam. We were all born into an old, fallen, corrupt humanity. Strikingly, God has chosen not to renovate, improve, or correct the old humanity. Instead, He has chosen to do one thing with it.

Crucify it.

We got into Adam by birth. The only way to get out of him and his race is by death. And the only way to get into Christ is by birth. New birth.

Note Paul’s words: “Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Christ” and “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

You aren’t really human until you’ve died and risen again. The good news is that this has already happened (Rom. 6—8).

The old Adam cannot be cosmetically adjusted, repaired, or improved.

He must be put to death.

Jesus Christ was a living portrait of God’s thought for humanity. He was the true human.

In His resurrection, Jesus became the Head of a new humanity that transcends the old distinctions of race and gender (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:10–11; 2 Cor. 5:17). The man, Jesus, is what God intended humanity to be. He was a person who lived by God’s life. In the same way, every person today who lives by the life of God is revealing their true humanity.

It takes God to be a human.

Adam and Eve were offered the tree of life in the garden. But they never partook of it. God’s intention from the beginning was for humans to live by divine life.

And here’s the good news: Jesus Christ is the reality of the tree of life. He has been offered to us today to partake of (John 6:57). We can partake of Him now and thus be fully human and part of a new humanity—a new creation—a new kind of human.

What a beautiful way to present the gospel to those who don’t know Jesus: Here is a way to become fully human. Receive Jesus Christ, the Head of the new humanity.

No other religion offers such a glorious thing. 

5. Everything Wears Out Except for Christ

Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

I often feel that way about contemporary Christianity. As an observer of the passing parade, I’ve noted the following: Most of what’s put on the table with respect to reforming and renewing the church are the same ideas repackaged from decade to decade.

There’s very little new in any of them.

But more critical, these “renewing” and “reforming” ideas and solutions lack one critical element. That element is best illustrated by what Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, said once during an interview:

Lots of companies have tons of great engineers and smart people. But ultimately, there needs to be some gravitational force that pulls it all together. Otherwise, you can get great pieces of technology all floating around the universe. But it doesn’t add up to much.… There were bits and pieces of interesting things floating around, but not that gravitational pull.

Jobs’s metaphor is an apt description of the great need in the church today. Christians have made the gospel about so many “interesting things floating around” but without the gravitational pull that brings them all together.

And that gravitational pull is the Lord Jesus Christ.

That said, if there’s anything I’ve learned by being a Christian over the last thirty years, it’s this:

1. Any solution, cure, or remedy that doesn’t have Jesus Christ at its center is doomed to fail.
2. Everything in the Christian life eventually wears out. The only thing that doesn’t is Christ Himself. He is new every morning.2

Consequently, all of our methods, techniques, innovative ideas, strategies, and solutions don’t stand a chance if the Lord Jesus Himself isn’t front and center of all of them.

He and He alone is God’s method, technique, idea, strategy, and solution.

He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

Christ and Christ alone is the gospel (2 Cor. 4:5). Everything else tastes like plain yogurt.

From Revise Us Again by Frank Viola, author

They are Great High Priest, Good Shepherd, Heavenly Bridegroom, Author and Finisher of Our Faith, Builder of Ekklesia, Head of the Church, and Lord of the World. I went through the entire New Testament from Matthew to Revelation to find every verse that gives insight into what Jesus has been doing since His ascension. Each chapter of Jesus Now describes one of these facets, so each chapter is like a different side of a diamond when you begin turning it. To my mind, all of them shine brilliantly in their own way.

You can visit the official Jesus Now site for information and samples.

Pathology is the study of disease. Medical experts tell us that in order to remain in good health, one must have a proper diet and exercise regularly. They also recommend periodic physical examinations. The reason? A person can get infected with an acute disease and not know it.

      Since it’s possible to unknowingly acquire a terminal illness, many researchers say that the best prevention against certain diseases is early detection. And early detection necessitates periodic physical exams.

      The New Testament repeatedly envisions the church as the Body of Christ. Paul spins the body metaphor again and again to describe the ekklesia. For Paul, the church is like a physical body. As such, it’s a living, breathing, vital organism. It’s born. It experiences growth spurts and growth pains. And it passes through specific developmental stages.

      To put a finer point on it, a church’s physical condition can range from healthy and vibrant to the spiritual IC unit (barely alive). Since the church is a living organism, it can even contract spiritual disease.

      According to my experience, many organic churches seem to expire within two years. Some, however, keep on meeting even though they are living in the precincts of death. See Revelation 3:1. In both cases, the church dies from a fatal illness. Consequently, if a church doesn’t know how to build a healthy immune system, it sits wide open for serious sickness.

      In this chapter, I would like to introduce you to four common diseases that afflict organic churches. As such, this chapter can rightly be titled, Church Pathology 101.

      Please note that I’m not speaking as a theoretician. I’ve watched these diseases afflict non-traditional churches for almost two decades. The good news is that none of these diseases is hopelessly terminal. All have a cure. The bad news is that without preventative maintenance and early detection, the chances for a church’s survival is slim to none. And slim left town.

      As we explore each disease, I’ll be spinning a lot of medical terminology, building upon Paul’s body metaphor. I’ll also be employing a few nonbiblical terms to make specific points. The four diseases are: Koinonitis, Spiritual Myopia, Spiritual Dwarfism, and Hyperpneumia.

      The traditional church doesn’t pass through seasons because it’s tied to a ritual that continues unmoved every week of every month of every year, world without end. Consequently, the spiritual temperature of a traditional congregation is hidden underneath the ritual. The performers perform, and the congregation watches, regardless of the congregation’s spiritual condition. To spin that point around, religious institutions and programs are life-support systems when a church is spiritually dying.

      One of the wisest men who ever lived taught us well about the different season of life. He wrote,

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to throw away; A time to tear, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; A time of war, and a time of peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

      What is true in the natural is also true in the spiritual.

      At bottom, a season means a change. As fallen creatures, we don’t like change very much. We fall into ruts and routines quite easily. We’re bent that way. But science teaches us that all living things grow or else they die. Change, therefore, is a basic law of life.

      For this reason, it’s important that a church always maintain a spirit of exploration, experimentation, and discovery. I’ve learned that if you don’t have variety in your church life, you will grow stale. There’s an infinite number of ways to express the Lord, there’s an infinite number of ways to explore Him, and there’s an infinite number of ways to have meetings. 

      I’m convinced that one of the reasons why God wrote the seasons into the script of the universe is to illustrate the changes that a church will pass through. To frame it in Paul’s language, “Does not nature teach you?” 1 Corinthians 11:14.

Frank Viola Author Resource List

Frank Viola – Author Website

One of the greatest lessons that Stephen Kaung taught me by his life was the critical importance of remaining humble in the face of the greatest unveiling of Christ. He once brought a message in 1995 that deeply impacted me. He told the story of God’s work in China under Watchman Nee. The stories he told about the work were no less than remarkable.

      Organic churches were planted all over China in this work. Droves of young people came to the Lord. They touched the glory of God and experienced the Body of Christ in a marvelous way.

      Most of the traditional churches in China didn’t like these new churches. They felt threatened by them. Watchman Nee was tagged a “sheep-stealer” because people who were dying on the vine in the traditional church were joining his work in mass numbers.

      As Stephen told the story, he stopped and began to weep. He said, “But something happened. Pride came over us. Because we had received a deep revelation of the Lord, we felt that we were special. We felt that we were better than other Christians. No longer did we talk about being part of the church, we started saying that we were the church in the city.”

      Stephen went on to say that God let this go on for a while, but eventually, He took His hand off the work. And in Stephen’s opinion, He allowed it to be scattered.

      I remember having a conversation with him sometime afterwards. He very simply quoted the Scriptures to me: “God resists the proud, but He gives grace to the humble” . . . “Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and He will lift you up.” En. 1 Peter 5:5-6.

      Those words possessed thunder and lighting for me. I asked him, “Brother Stephen, how does a group of Christians find the Lord in the depths and avoid thinking to themselves that they are special?” His reply was simple: “Only God can do that . . . our part is to humble ourselves under His mighty hand and He will lift us up.”

Viola on Leaving and Finding Church

Frank Viola Author