David JeremiahGOD in YOUReleasing the Power of the Holy Spirit in Your LifeMiles J. Stanford GOD IN YOU --RELEASING THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN YOUR LIFE, by Dr. David Jeremiah (Multnomah Publishers, 1998, 272 pages). Dr. Jeremiah is senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church, in San Diego, California. He is also founder of the Radio and TV show titled Turning Point, which airs over some 900 stations. The author has been a featured speaker at the Billy Graham Training Center, "The Cove," in North Carolina, for the past eight years. He has been a speaker at Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Founder's Week, as well as having appeared on Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program. Filled With the Spirit -- This book centers upon the filling of the Spirit, as commanded in Ephesians 5:18: "... be filled with the Spirit"--the only mention of the filling in the Epistles. The other 14 references are in Luke and Acts. Control of the Spirit -- The general teaching concerning the filling is that it results in the control of the Spirit over the believer. This concept is held by Pentecostals and Charismatics, and by most non-charismatic evangelicals. Dr. Jeremiah's book is an example of the fallacy and danger of this Spirit-filled control theory. Filled with Christ -- The opposite and scriptural teaching of the filling with the Spirit is that one is thereby filled with Christ. For this subject and the refutation of the Spirit-filled control theory, see Arthur Temmesfeld's "The Filling of the Holy Spirit--Is It the Biblical Basis For Christian Maturity?" ("Tri-S" #15). Charismatic Error -- Any error concerning the filling with the Spirit can have catastrophic results. The filling-control error forms the basis of the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, in that it centers one upon the Holy Spirit in the believer's life, rather than the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. The charismatic seeks to emphasize and glorify the Holy Spirit, in spite of the fact that the Spirit's purpose in this dispensation is to glorify the glorified One at the right hand of the Father on high. Chuck Smith -- The charismatic Chuck Smith, in his book titled Living Water--The Power of the Holy Spirit in Your Life (Harvest House, Oregon, 1996, 297 pages), pretty much speaks for all Pentecostals and Charismatics:
There are several factors that would cause one to mis-relate the Spirit in this irresponsible manner.
The Spirit's Ministry -- The Holy Spirit would be the first to utterly reject the error of His superseding Christ in any way, and is certainly grieved by such a thought.
He shows the believer, via the Word, that he is united to Christ in glory, having been spiritually born into Him as his Life--nothing could be closer than that oneness of life! R.A. Torrey's Error -- Dr. Reuben Archer Torrey assisted D.L. Moody in founding Moody Bible Institute, and he later founded Biola Bible College. Dr. Torrey clearly taught that every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit at the moment of regeneration, and is at the same time baptized by the Spirit into the heavenly Body of Christ. There never was a question concerning this aspect of his teaching regarding the Holy Spirit. The serious Torrey problem had to do with the filling with the Spirit, and again, error here results in grave and far-reaching consequences. He taught that one was to be filled with the Spirit by faith, that it was a crisis experience subsequent to regeneration, and that it had primarily to do with power for service. And he insisted upon referring to the filling as "the baptism of the Spirit." Dr. Torrey postulated the proposition that "the baptism with the Holy Spirit is an operation of the Spirit distinct from and subsequent and additional to His regenerating work." "In regeneration there is an impartation of life, and the one who receives it is saved; in the baptism with the Holy Spirit there is an impartation of power and the one who receives it is fitted for service." (See his otherwise fine What the Bible Teaches). It is not generally known, although the Pentecostals are prone to proclaim it, that it was none other than the evangelical R.A. Torrey who supplied most of the "theology" upon which Pentecostalism bases its "baptism with the Holy Ghost." The evangelist George T.B. Davis writes:
Scriptural Teaching -- A Scriptural understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit during this dispensation is basic to Christian living. Spiritual growth involves Christlikeness, and Christlikeness is the fruit of the Spirit. Spiritual power is not necessarily or usually the miraculous or the spectacular, but rather the consistent and growing manifestation of the characteristics of the Lord Jesus in the believer's life. All of this is the ministry of the indwelling Spirit, of whom the Lord Jesus said, "He shall glorify Me" (John 16:14).
Dr. David Jeremiah has titled his book God in You, by which he is referring to the indwelling Holy Spirit. And, like most others, he interprets Ephesians 5:18 as a command to be filled with the Holy Spirit, thereby giving Him control of the Christian's life. Contributing to Charismatic Error -- This error tends to make the Holy Spirit predominant and preeminent in the Christian's thinking. The entire Pentecostal and Charismatic movements are a terrible example of that! Holding this error can cause the same devastation in the life and ministry of a non-charismatic--David Jeremiah being the sad example via this book. In chapter six, titled "The Illumination of the Spirit," the author quotes John 16:12-14. Then he gives his version of the text:
Somehow, in his bizarre attempt to give the Holy Spirit precedence, Dr. Jeremiah failed to give a reference for that last sentence which he falsely attributed to Jesus! Besides, it is not a matter of one member of the Trinity knowing the Father better than the other. Actually, the Spirit's ministry is to glorify Christ: "He shall glorify Me" (John 16:4). The Lord Jesus came to glorify the Father: "I have glorified Thee on the earth" (John 17:4). Bill Bright Influence -- Evidently Dr. Jeremiah has been strongly influenced by some of Bill Bright's charismatic errors.
Christ Superseded -- Here is a charismatic scheme for the Christian walk: Confessing and forsaking sin, and seeking the filling and control of the Holy Spirit. No mention of reckoning upon one's death unto sin at the Cross, and being positioned in Christ before the Father in glory (Rom. 6:11). Christ, our very Christian life, is not even considered!
What is all this praying to the Holy Spirit, and expecting that from Him which "you would never have apart from Him"? The Word of God, via Paul, is totally contrary to this Spirit control.
Spirit, in Preference to Christ -- Dr. Jeremiah, with his filling and control of the Spirit, has no need for the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. He has Him totally obscured by the very Spirit who was sent down here that He might glorify Christ!
What the Spirit was sent for was to glorify Christ; and that is not what "He alone can do." Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him" (John 13:31,32).
It is tragic that Dr. Jeremiah is unable to write to his readers: "How do you face these crises? You face them with the knowledge that by His Spirit, the Father's mighty Son lives within you, closer than hands or feet, closer than breathing. You face them with confidence that nothing catches your Father by surprise and that His Son, who is your Life, will give you a kind of discernment and discipline and direction you would otherwise never have."
The Spirit Glorifies Christ -- The Holy Spirit produces nothing in our lives-He is not the source of anything in the Christian's growth and walk. He is the Agent, who manifests the life of Christ who indwells us. As we fellowship with the Lord Jesus from our position in heaven, and look upon His glory, we are progressively changed into His image--and this life process (growth) is carried out, not produced by, the Spirit of Christ. "But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18). Spirit-control Error -- The author has titled the final (15) chapter of his book, "When the Holy Spirit Controls Your Life." He closes the chapter, and actually sums up the book, as follows:
What do you think is the likelihood of that prayer being answered?!
Non-dispensationalist -- There are several other factors in this book that need to be mentioned here.
No dispensationalist, he! Nor does he present positional truth. He fails to teach that the believer has positionally died to the law and, in Christ ascended, he is now under grace for his life and walk. "For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." "Wherefore, my brethren, ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that ye should bring forth fruit [not law-works] unto God" (Gal. 2:19; Rom. 7:4). Jay Adams' Habituation --
This is Jay Adams' false habituation teaching. But that which comes over from pre-conversion is the life and nature of the first Adam--not just habits, grooves, and tendencies. At conversion we receive a new life and nature, that of the Last Adam. As believers we do not have a changed life, but an exchanged life, i.e., "Not I [first Adam], but Christ" [Last Adam]. Adoption -- One needs to understand the difference between legal adoption, and spiritual birth.
As the footnote explains in the New Scofield Reference Bible, p. 1272:
If the Spirit of Christ is going to do any reminding, it will be that the believer is re-born, re-created in Christ who becomes his Life (Col. 3:4). After the Rapture, "when Christ, who is our Life, shall appear (as King, to establish His kingdom on earth], then shall ye [the Bride of the Bridegroom-King] also appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:4). And we, as His consort-Bride, shall share His throne,and reign with Him forever. Conclusive Conclusion -- If Dr. David Jeremiah knew who, and where, he is in the glorified Lord Jesus Christ as his Life, and what he has in Him, he neither could nor would have written this book, as such. You cannot write a book about the Holy Spirit unless you write about the glorified Lord Jesus Christ--He being the One whom the Spirit of Christ is all about! 3/99 |
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