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Chuck Smith is founder and pastor of
Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa,
California; which has spawned a number
of Calvary Chapels in different parts of
the country. All are Charismatic;
all are out of scriptural bounds.
The author has a radio program titled
"The Word For Today," and
often speaks on TV via the rabidly
Charismatic Trinity Broadcasting
Network. He has a very personable
aspect, his speaking approach is
low-key, and he is careful to avoid any
untoward Charismatic characteristics.
Hence his ministry is especially
dangerous, in that most Christians today
tend to evaluate a leader by his personality
and appearance, rather than by his doctrine.
But this is a fatal practice, especially
concerning false teachers, as Dr. Chafer
warned:
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"Beware of false prophets,
which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are
ravening wolves. Ye shall know
them by their fruits" (Matt.
7:5-20). The [kingdom] warning
here is against false prophets who
are to be discerned by the quality
of their lives.
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The warning to the Christian under
grace is against false teachers who
are to be discerned by their doctrine
concerning Christ (2 Pet. 2:1; 2
John 1:7-11), never by their lives;
for outwardly, false teachers are
said to appear as the "apostles
of Christ," and to be under the
influence of Satan who himself
appears as an "angel of
light" (2 Cor. 11:13-15).
The attractive personality of the
false teacher affords great
advantage as a "front" for
the appeal he makes for his false
doctrine.
Chuck Smith, Charismatic to the core,
emphasizes the Holy Spirit in the life
of the Christian, rather than the glorified
Lord Jesus Christ, "who is our
Life" (Col. 3:4). The ascended
Lord Jesus Christ is not even secondary
in the Charismatic concept, as they,
failing to rightly divide the Word of
truth, turn back to Jesus in His
pre-Cross life on earth, and His earthly
Kingdom Gospel to Israel.
The Lord Jesus said to His disciples,
"When He, the Spirit of truth, is
come… He shall not speak of Himself,
but whatever He shall hear, that shall
He speak… He shall glorify Me"
(John 16:13,14).
Prior to His ascension, Jesus prayed,
"Father, I will that they also,
whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me
where I am, that they may behold My glory,
which Thou hast given Me" (John
17:24).
Paul says to the Christian, to the
Church, "Seek those things which
are above, where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God. Set your
affection on things above, not on things
on the earth. For ye have died,
and your life is hidden with Christ in
God" (Col. 3:1,2).
But the Charismatic seeks to emphasize
and glorify the Holy Spirit, in spite of
the scriptural fact that His purpose is
to glorify the Glorified One at the
right hand of the Father on high.
And they seek to know and follow Jesus
in His earthly humiliation, and Kingdom
Gospel. Hence we see this in Chuck
Smith's book titled Living Water--The
Power of the Holy Spirit in Your Life:
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The purpose of this book is to help
you get to know the Holy Spirit so
that you may enjoy a full, rich
relationship with Him.
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I am praying that by God's grace and
through this book the Lord will
develop in you an insatiable hunger
for and thirsting after the Spirit.
He is the person of the Godhead to
whom we relate most closely (pp.
7,8).
Wrong way around! Error! It
is the Spirit's ministry and purpose to
develop in the believer an insatiable
hunger and thirst for the glorified Lord
Jesus Christ! The fruit of the
Spirit consists of aspects,
characteristics, of the life of
Christ (Gal. 5:22,23).
The purpose of The Book, for the
believer, is expressed by Paul: "He
that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord." "For I determined
not to know any thing among you, except
Jesus Christ." "Christ
shall be magnified in my body … for to
me to live is Christ."
"That I may know Him" (1 Cor.
1:31; 2:2; Phil. 1:20,21; 3:10).
The Spirit's ministry is that "the
life also of Jesus might be made
manifest in our body" (2 Cor.
4:10). As J.B. Stoney well said:
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The work of the Lord Jesus now is to
occupy me with Himself. It is
clear that in spirit I am up There
in all His beauty and acceptance,
and now I am to live down here, not
as a comely and excellent person,
but as the Lord Jesus manifested in
my body.
Because the Charismatic does not center
in the glorified Lord Jesus Christ, he
does not really know God for who He is;
and he would attribute sovereignty to
Satan. But while Satan may be the
"prince of this world," God is
King over him, this world, and the
universe.
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Jesus
told us to pray, "Your kingdom
come. Your will be done on
earth as it is in heaven"
(Matt. 6: 10). Oh, how I long
to see the day when God's will
instead of Satan's is being done on
this earth! (p. 44).
But Chuck Smith is right about one
thing; one should not "stick
around" Calvary Chapel, or any of
the other lesser Chapels, for that
matter. He speaks of a letter received,
and his answer:
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Some time ago I received a letter
from a fellow who wrote, "I
considered affiliation with the
Calvary Chapels, but this aspect was
wrong and that doctrine was wrong
and I don't know if I really
understand what is going on
there."
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I wrote back and said, "I don't
think you do know. And I would
suggest you not pursue any further
trying to affiliate with Calvary
Chapel." He described his
shock at one of the issues that was
brought up, and I said, "If you
stick around, you will probably find
a lot more shocking things. So maybe
it's better that you do not stick
around" (p. 90).
As a Charismatic, Chuck Smith claims
that all of the gifts of the Spirit are
for today:
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When you walk with the Spirit,
develop in your relationship with
Him, and respond to His work in you,
it is very likely that you will
begin to have all kinds of glorious,
supernatural experiences (emphasis
mine) (p. 19).
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In exercising the ministry of
pastor-teacher, I believe there are
three spiritual gifts that operate,
especially when we are teaching the
word of God: prophecy, the word of
knowledge ["the Lord told
me"], and the word of wisdom.
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This is the word of wisdom: You
didn't know the answer before this
moment, but even as you speak your
heart testifies of its truth and it
makes [subjective] sense.
The Spirit of God gives you the
answer. It is something that
you had not learned or studied or
thought about, but it is right, so
on target, that you recognize it as
a word of wisdom (p. 103).
It is as always: "The poor
Pentecostals and Charismatics; they do
not think, they only feel."
That is verified by their quest for, and
claims of, tongues, healing, and
miracles:
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I believe healing faith is related
to and associated with what 1
Corinthians 12 calls the gift of
faith. The gift of faith is
related many times to healing and
miracles (p. 122).
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I believe that lack of miraculous
healing today lies more in the
failure of man's faith than in the
reluctance of a compassionate God to
meet His children's needs. The
reason we don't see much miraculous
healing today is our general
skepticism. The reason why
people aren't healed so often today
as they seemed to be in the past can
be traced to general unbelief.
The fault is not God's, but ours
(pp. 135,136).
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We do have our limitations, and I
confess I'm in that group. I
could not in faith believe that God
would give a person a new arm.
I just couldn't do that. It is
not that I don't believe God could
do it; I just don't believe God would
do it.
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Don't misunderstand--that's a
confession of my lack of faith.
I'm not proud about it. I wish
I did have the kind of faith that
could pray, believing that God would
give a person a new arm (p.
145).
To these people, faith is the factor,
rather than the sovereign will of God.
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I encourage you to covet earnestly
the work of miracles [new arms?].
It would take quite a bit of
preparation to possess, but I don't
believe it is out of reach or out of
the question. I would love to
see the hand of God at work among
His children in a greater measure.
And I believe God desires to do it.
So what hinders Him? I think
we are the stumbling blocks; we are
the ones who have clogged the flow
of the Spirit in that realm (p.
149).
And then there is the Charismatic
"tongues" error:
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How is the gift of tongues to be
used in the life of the believer?
Tongues are exciting! It
builds you up in your walk with God,
and invigorates your relationship
with Him (p. 178).
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Tongues is the only gift of God that
edifies you personally and
individually. All the other
gifts serve to edify the church and
to build up the body. But this
one gift was given to build you
up, to strengthen you.
Speaking in tongues strengthens your
walk, your relationships, and gives
you the power to commune with God on
a deep spiritual level (p. 180).
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Speaking in tongues is a powerful,
God-given tool. It brings an
intimacy and communion and
fellowship with God that can be
achieved in no other way (p.
182).
Such misplaced reliance is the reason
for the general Charismatic craziness.
And yet another key error concerning the
Holy Spirit:
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Peter said we should receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit. Jesus also
called the Holy Spirit a gift.
And the only way to possess a gift
is to receive it. The gift of
the Holy Spirit must be received by
faith. Receiving the Spirit is
like believing on Jesus for
salvation.
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You must ask for the Holy
Spirit. God is not going to
force on you something that you do
not want. You must desire what
He has to give. God will not
violate your free will. You
must ask the Lord in faith for the
gift of the Holy Spirit (p.
276).
The Charismatic movement is not
characteristic of the work of the Holy
Spirit; as Sir Robert Anderson warned
long ago:
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In proportion as mind and heart are
fixed upon the glorified Lord Jesus
Christ, we may count on the Holy
Spirit's enabling. But if we
make the Spirit Himself the object
of our aspirations and worship, some
false spirit may counterfeit the
true and take us for a prey.
A final word from Dr. Arno Gaebelein
concerning the Holy Spirit:
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What is it to "walk in the
Spirit?" It is not
self-occupation, nor even occupation
with the Spirit. Walking
according to the Spirit is
occupation with the Lord Jesus
Christ in glory. If the
believer ever looks to the Lord
Jesus, depends upon Him, draws all
he needs from Him, if He is his All
in all--then the believer walks
according to the Spirit of Christ.
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