Home » General

Penteparanoia Part 12

28 July 2006 3 Comments

I have been pondering in my head for the past couple of years about the interrealtion between Superstition and Spirituality in the Christian realms…..

I remember these partial lyrics from the Stevie Wonder song entitled “Superstition”

Very superstitious, nothin’ more to say,
Very superstitious, the devil’s on his way,
Thirteen month old baby,
broke the lookin’ glass,
Seven years of bad luck,
good things in your past

When you believe in things
That you don’t understand,
Then you suffer,
Superstition ain’t the way,
no, no, no

The Word of Faith movement promoted superstitious spirituality such as:

“If you don’t sow a seed, you will not have met your need.”
“Doubt and do without”
“If you do not confess, you will not possess.”

This is in reality not much different from:

“Step on a crack, break your mother’s back”
“One should not sweep or dust on New Year’s Day lest good fortune also be swept away.”
“An apple a day keeps the doctor away”

Nor is it much different from a third-world uncivilized tribe believing that lightning and thunder is the anger of a god manifesting his displeasure.

What happens is that fear is driving all three types of superstitions to be observed, practiced, andobeyed.

In fact, Brennan Manning wrote in his book ‘Ruthless Trust (page 80 paperback) in reference to how this concept has developed in the typical believer from childhood that:

…..If they persevere in religious practices, their need to appease an arbitrary God turns Sunday worship into a superstitious insurance policy designed to protect the believer against God’s whims.

What happens is that the freedom to worship and the freedom to obey God is replaced by an obligatory requirement that tries to extort you into believing that failure to do something will bring bad things into your life.

Pages: 1 2

3 Comments »

  • TAM said:

    Just this week, a friend called me frantic because her doctor had found a “spot” on her lung and wanted to do tests. She and her husband had been the founding members of a “church” that had been solid and loving for over 30 years. They and about 200 others were forced out by a new pastor who let “church growth” become the be all and end all. They taught that “if you don’t agree with what we are doing God will not bless you” and “Submitting to us(pastor and his wife)is your only hope, if you don’t like it leave, but if you leave you are against God’s anointed and bad things will happen to you.” Needless to say this lady was upset, I offered Scripture and support and prayer. I talked with her yesterday the test showed nothing serious. Where did all this garbage teaching come from and why did we let it happen. Is there anyway to stop this? This lady is just one of many in my small city who are coming under this teaching and not just at one church. I had left the same church over 3 years ago when it became obvious that the new teaching and the Word were not in harmony. I wonder should I have stayed even when they drove me out for asking questions. TAM

    # 30 July 2006 at 3:52 pm
  • admin said:

    TAM:

    That is a good question to ask. Spiritual abuse experts call this “fight or flight”. One great resource that talks about this is the book “The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse” by David Johnson, Jeff Vanvonderen. There is one chapter near the end of the book that specifically deals with the dynamics of ‘fight vs. flight’and how to analyze whether it’s best to fight or to leave and go elsewhere.

    I found that alot of this garbage started within the ‘dominionist / kingdom now” churches of the late 1950’s and got very popularized in the 1960’s and early 1970’s with the famous “Fort Lauderdale Five” (aka the Shepherding Movement). Even after the Shepherding Movement fell apart, the word of faith and the pentecostal/charismatic teachers carried it to a new level of holy horrors to the point where we see it today.

    # 30 July 2006 at 6:04 pm
  • lista said:

    Our society is entrenched with euphemisms and superstitions to the degree of paralysis. We can’t escape the “don’t do this for fear of that” attitude. Christians need to understand the authority and the freedom that we walk in. The devil uses our paranoia, to propagate our fears. Your experience with the work week being good or bad was a fallacy, a trick to cause you to walk in bondage. I did not say that to condemn, you know that….we all walk in error because we’re in a fallen world. We all need our spiritual blinders to be removed.
    be blessed!

    # 3 August 2006 at 9:33 am