A friend of mine was a member of a charismatic prayer group (or community as they call it too) for 15 years. He told me of the many times that the charisms of the Holy Spirit proved to be otherwise. This is one example: during an assembly of the members of group (more than 500 members), one member that had the charisms of prophesy said that the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that the mother of one of the members, who was in the terminal phase of cancer, was healed, that she had cancer no more. All the assembly erupted in cheers and praise to the Lord for the miracle. Two weeks later the lady died of cancer.
This is just one example of the many he has told me of prophesies unfulfilled, Friday after Friday (assembly day) for more than a decade. Charismatic groups sprang all over the world since the 1970s in the same fashion that protestant denominations are born every month. Their intentions are good, no doubt about that. But the “democratization” of the Holy Spirit charisms has gone way too far. Now in every community you’ll have members making prophesies about anything, from people healing, rain for the crops, the economy and even political races outcome. Discernment is obviously missing in many of these groups, yet more and more people are joining, with the wonders of miracles and prophesies being the main attraction to join. The Holy Spirit is with them!
What should we do when a prophesy fails?
“If any prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh and if that which he says does not happen, you shall know that the word does not come from Yahweh. The prophet has spoken to boast and you shall not pay any attention to him.” Deuteronomy 18:22
“But Yahweh said, "These prophets have proclaimed untruths in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. False visions, worthless divinations and delusions of their own imagination - that is what they prophesy. And Yahweh added, "These prophets whom I did not send and who prophesy in my name, saying that the sword and famine will not touch this land - these same prophets will perish by the sword and famine”." Jeremiah 14:14-15
But these groups continue as if nothing happened after the failed prophesies.
The problem with the charismatic movement is that it’s too “subjective”. All you have is the person’s word that he received a message from the Holy Spirit and all believe it to be so. But tradition in the Church has been that, when an individual appears to show he is charismatic, the Church takes a very long time to confirm as such. That’s been the case of many saints like St. John of the Cross or St. Teresa of Avila to name a couple. Today our regular folks, who live next door and are members of the group, are receiving messages and are making prophesies in such numbers all over the world that it’s becoming too confusing and too complicated. St. John of the Cross said that, if a spirit talks to you, test him. Let that spirit prove it comes from God, again and again and again. None of this happens in this group, everything is taken at face value, no testing, testing, testing, everything comes from the Holy Spirit, from God, period.
It was common that these groups didn’t have a priest for guidance when they began. The group was formed by lay individuals who, after creating the group learned about similar groups in the USA and attended an ecumenical gathering I think in Indiana. This happened in 1977 and the leaders of the group saw among the Protestants present there the works of the “Spirit”. They saw the Protestants had the charisms.
The leaders never saw the need to have a priest to guide them when forming the group, or when writing the articles of constitution of the group and even less when shepherding. They were guided by other lay people with no priests supervising them. The group is now part of an international ecumenical group called “The Sword of the Spirit” (I’m writing from memory here, I might have the wrong name).
One trait that was immediately obvious was the absence of devotion for the Virgin Mary. This is a Catholic group that didn’t pray the Rosary nor even mentioned it or encouraged its members to pray it, and we live in a country with a very high devotion for the Virgin Mary. Our Patron Saint is the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, celebrated December 8, and we have a special celebration on the vigil (December 7 evening) with altars devoted to the Virgin Mary in people’s homes. Thousands of people in every city and town go out to the homes that have these altars and sing songs dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, it’s a huge national Catholic celebration. My friend’s charismatic group never celebrated this holiday that we call “La Purisima” (“The Purest One”), never in the 15 years he was a member. Same thing regarding the Saints of the Church, the group is very Protestants in this respect.
I agree with Salvatore123 and jjkp777 on this issue. The way I see it is that not all that glitters is gold. Some members in leadership position in the group have left. For those joining there is what is called “group pressure”, people actually “acting” when speaking in tongues, which is the universal or more common charisms in the group. When they enter the group they hear all this unintelligible sounds, all different from one member to the next, and they hear a constant repetition of the same noises. Eventually for pure pressure they start doing the same thing. Other charisms are much harder to act out.
Another practice in the group is that they are asked to give the tithe. Many that were in the group more than 15-20 years fell on hard times and couldn’t keep up giving the tithe, the leaders decided to ask them to pay or leave. Has the Church ever asked us to give alms or leave? This is not a Church practice. In this group “brothers” were expelled for falling on hard times, very un-Christian I must say. They were kicked out literally. Once out they are like pariah, friendships are lost, members are told to avoid the ones that were told to go. The same thing happens to those who leave voluntarily, no more brotherly love.
I know that this is not the norm in all groups, but when guidance is left to lay people this is what happens, and most of the stories I know about these groups is about the same, lay people guiding these groups. It’s like the blind guiding the blind.
