Testing the Spirits — Discerning the Holy Spirit from Counterfeits
Not every 'spiritual experience' is the Holy Spirit. Scripture is emphatic about that — and yet contemporary Christianity often swings between two errors: charismatic excess that calls every emotional surge a move of God, and cessationist over-correction that treats most spiritual experience as suspect by default. This plan walks the harder middle path Scripture itself walks: open to the Spirit's real work, jealous to discern what is actually him.
In 1741, Jonathan Edwards stood in the wreckage of America's First Great Awakening. People had been converted by the thousands. People had also been thrown into hysterical fits, claimed visions of dubious origin, and split churches over which experiences were "of the Spirit." Edwards did what few preachers in such moments do: he sat down and wrote The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God, followed by the longer Religious Affections. He refused to dismiss the revival; he also refused to baptize every dramatic experience inside it. He insisted Scripture itself gave the church criteria for discernment. He worked them out, slowly, from 1 John 4 and other New Testament texts. The result is one of the most important books in American Christian history.
We need that book again. Today, the same questions multiply: viral conferences where everyone seems to be slain in the Spirit; revival movements with prophetic words that did not pan out; deconversion stories of people who once felt the Spirit and now feel certain it was group emotion; quiet evangelical churches that have functionally given up on expecting the Spirit at all; charismatic megachurches that treat every excitement as evidence of his presence. Scripture stands as a third party to all of it, and Scripture's posture is neither the cessationist's suspicion nor the enthusiast's credulity. It is test the spirits.
What to Expect
Ten days through 1 John 4, 1 Corinthians 12-14, Galatians 5, and the Old Testament's surprisingly detailed warnings about false prophecy. Edwards on the distinguishing marks. J.I. Packer's Keep In Step With the Spirit — perhaps the best modern book on this — pushing both charismatics and their critics. Calvin's careful reading of the Spirit's work in Word and sacrament. Schaeffer on counterfeit spirituality. Augustine on the difference between consoling experiences and saving ones. The plan is honest about the disagreements between Christian traditions on the gifts of the Spirit, and more interested in how all sides can apply biblical discernment than in winning the older argument.
Who This Plan Is For
For Christians who have been hurt by charismatic excess and are trying to keep the baby with the bathwater. For Christians from non-charismatic backgrounds who suspect their tradition has unwittingly made the Holy Spirit a doctrine rather than a person. For anyone who has had a powerful spiritual experience and is honestly asking whether it was him.