While lust for new material possessions can be hurtful, even worse is when Christians follow the latest fads in Christianity and claim that this supposed new thing that God is doing makes the rest of the Christians around them out of the loop and a little less spiritual.
My Christian walk has spanned 30 years. In that time I have seen many things come and go. I have sat under the ministries of everyone from David Wilkerson to Rodney Howard Brown. I remember the laughing revival that featured spontaneous laughing that would break out in the sanctuary during the teaching of God's word. Still going strong today is the money folks who mange to connect every message they preach with asking people to consider giving $1,000 so that God will erase all their debt. I actually head someone say the other day that if a person has gotten into credit card debt they can use the same card that got them into trouble to get out of debt trouble by charging their ministry gifts using Visa. This is not only ridiculous, but crosses the line into evil manipulation.
Included on my list of Christian fads and abuses is the practice of offering personal prophecy to people who are looking for guidance. There are some groups who give a few weeks training and poof, you're a prophet who is qualified to give not just advice, but to speak for God in a way that gives the naive seeker the impression that they are hearing directly from heaven in the words of the manufactured prophet. The danger of this practice is not only that people are receiving information that can lead them in the wrong direction and possibly cause harm - but also to create a dependance for prophetic readings that look very similar to fortune telling with a Christian spin.
While there are times where the gifts of the Holy Spirit move through people to bring an anointed prophetic message from God, we must never put our trust in these utterances apart from our own study and seeking of the Holy Spirit.
It is appealing to our human laziness to go to a prophecy room, give a little offering and fifteen minutes later you are walking out with a “word from God”. No fuss, no hassle, no seeking, no studying God's word. In these places you will often hear supposed prophetic words that include the verbage, “God is doing a new thing”. Is God doing a new thing? As I said, humans love new, fresh, contemporary stuff.
While I am aware of a couple of Biblical verses that use this terminology, they in no way teach us that God has changed His ways, methods, message, or focus. From an Old Testament perspective the new thing that God has done is He has delievered us from the law of sin and death by the shed blood of Jesus.
Today, the new thing that God would like Christians to understand is that the old thing still works. When a man or women humbles themselves before God in prayer and study of His word seeking God's face for guidance and truth He meets them there. We live in a quick fix, drive through society - this mindset has infiltrated the church and has in my opinion caused Christians to seek others voices. This is a very effective weapon of the devil because it ensure that these seekers who are always looking for a “word” through other voices will never hear the true word. If they are every challenged they simply claim that the one who refuses to take their path is just spiritual ignorant and unwilling to jump into the new wave of God's moving on the earth.
We live in a day where finding a quite place before God with your Bible and believing that God still speaks to every child of the King is new to some, but in God's eyes it is an old thing that still works and has never changed.
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