Man, I can’t believe some of what I am reading. This is exactly why when people go on their own to interpret something involving God, they can get so far off track. Your final statement “I weigh in on the gift being demonic” is sort of demonic in itself, especially when you speak such against something that is formally recognized and supported by the Church, and especially since the devil would love to see this type of warfare prayer go away.
Can there be and are there people who are e.g. faking it till they make it, or as I’ve seen in Charsimatic groups (as well as other groups) when an individual begins to take to much control, the Holy Spirit and the Lord are shut out? Yes these and other things happen, and thay happen at parishes and other groups as well.
When we speak of this charism we are not equating it with Penetcostal Churches, or Assembly of God or the other 30,000 plus that pop up in shopping centers around the world, and that equate us with the whore of Babylon. When we are in full communion with the Church and it’s teachings, the gifts of this charism are powerful and holy indeed. I have been to many Spirit filled events etc., yet I don’t walk around calling myself a Charismatic first, even though I have prayed in tongues many, many times. Once that channel is opened, it is very easy to reopen again and again, like a well that never runs dry. I consider myself Catholic first blessed by one of the many mansions Our God has to offer, one of the many places of rest and repose.
People amuse me that they think they are so spiritually advanced they can judge if I or others are experiencing the Holy Spirit, like I don’t know what the fire of the Holy Spirit burning within me is like. Are you kidding me??? Jesus fought with the Pharisees and some accused Him of healing by the devil, saying he has a devil, and we all know what He said about that, so I would be very careful about calling some thing you obviously don’t understand and have not experienced “demonic”.
I have been to many Catholic Charsimatic events and I have never heard the whooping or howling that takes place in some self determined sects. Most of them I have gone to take place within and around the Mass. When the priest elevates the host at the consecration, people adore and praise the Lord and give thanks to God, we worship Him. It’s all about worshipping and praising Our Lord Jesus Christ!!! So what in the world are you talking about???
Oh, maybe I don’t really knwo how to worship and praise the Lord the right way, whether it’s at Mass, all day, in song, in the Rosary, in front of the Blessed Sacrament, or wherever for we should and can praise Our Lord in all ways at all times!!!
In a word, no. No, I don’t think that the Church would have stopped it by now. Look at the long list of terrible things that the Church hasn’t stopped: parishes renting out spaces to groups wildly at odds with Church teaching, flagrant abuse of EMHCs (remember when they used to be “EXTRAORDINARY”? Yeah, me neither), RCIA and PRE classes that use texts written by dissidents, pro-abortion politicians receiving Eucharist, etc. etc.
I love Holy Mother Church. I firmly believe that our Holy Father is doing what he can. However, as was recently mentioned in an article somewhere (pregnancy brain, otherwise I’d post a link), many people have mentioned the “smoke of Satan” in the Church.
Jesus promised us that the gates of Hell would not prevail against His Church, and I believe that. However, there are many elements of the enemy that have taken root and need to be purged. I’m not saying that the Charismatic movement is one of these, but I am saying that just because something hasn’t been stamped out yet doesn’t mean it’s good for the Church.
My last point before I probably bow out of the discussion (which seemed to take a nasty turn a few posters back), is the following:
The devil, it has been said, can fake humility, but cannot fake obedience. Where is the obedience to the guidelines set out by the very writings of St. Paul that Charismatic devotees seem to place so much stock in? Where is the order (no more than 2-3 tongue speakers at one service, and speaking one at a time)? Where is the silence if no translator is present? And to say nothing about St. Paul’s prohibition on women speaking in church.
St. Paul closes out the 14th chapter of his 1st letter to Corinthians by saying:
I have yet to experience the charism of speaking in tongues that does so “decently, and according to order”. Which to me, smacks of disobedience. In the face of such disobedience I will weigh in on the “gift” being of a demonic, not Divine, origin.
