The Gospel Of Experience

Well! This took me by surprise. I wrongly referred to Bacchus being the Greek God of wine. In fact that is the Roman interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus.

In researching further Dionysus’ character and what he represents, his influence in the church is much more recognizable than I thought so originally. Dyonysus is the Greek god of wine, ecstasy and self-gratification. He is also related to frenzied madness that could lead to murder and also inspires ritual mysticism, dance, fervor or madness. (Wine or ecstatic experiences were used in many greek ritual.)

Dionysus wears a fox-skin which symbolizes new life, but is also depicted wearing a leopard skin or shown riding a leopard. He was also accompanied with Pan (god of music).

In Athens there were festivals in his honour known as the Greater Dionysia and the Lesser Dionysia. The festivals were performed enthusiastically through religious fervor, ecstastic experiences and were orgasmic in nature. The center of this worship was called the sparagmos. A worshipful act was performed where  people would tear apart a live animal, eat it’s flesh and drink it’s blood, believing they were partaking of the god’s body and blood.

The Greeks believed they could obtain something of Dionysus, (that being his resurrection-like nature). The Greeks believed that Dionysus was born from His dead mother which Zeus (the Father) killed, due to Hera’s trickery. As a result of the death of Dionysus’ mother, Zeus delivered her child and continued to grow the child in his thigh by cutting it open and placing the supposed dead child in his body before being birthed from the side of his leg. This is how the Greeks believed Dionysus was born twice.

Thus in their festivals, it was believed once a year, Dionysus would be resurrected from the dead to play a fertility role in these rituals and ceremonies. The Greeks believed that Dionysus stayed with Persephone’s home in the underworld, hoping one day get his dead birth-mother back from the under world – Semele. He would be summoned up from Hades through these rituals. Thus doctrines and dramas/performances would play a dominant role in these festivals and rituals. After the major festival, the spirit of Dionysus would return to the underworld and stay with Persophone in an attempt to find his mother.

The Five Counterfeits

Let’s see if we can now DISCERN a similar spirit to Dionysus in the church today… It is INDEED present!

Has anyone else picked up how much drinking the ‘new wine’ is in the church these days? Combine that with ministries heavily promoting worship ‘experiences’, ‘ekstasis worship experiences’, ‘drunken glory movements’, ‘smashed in God’s presence meetings’… You start possibly seeing a similar spirit.

This gospel message starts on the GRACE road! But c’mon! Get that NEW LIFE inta ‘ya! Get plastered by Jesus! Daddy wants YOU to have FUN! This gospel emphasizes grace to the point that it’s hedonistic agenda starts detatching believers from the gospel, the bible, other believers, churches and community. It’s an alternate reality. The results, (from personal experience), is devastating. People’s eyes have turned to God’s hands and not His heart. Their eyes follow experiences and eventually – God hands them over to those experiences. People worship the experiences they want for fun’s sake. It is also easy to enter into this kind of experience. It is the role of the hypocrite (actor), becoming something that you are not, and surrendering to ‘it’.

They have set their own snare. The experience chasers wait for the next ‘experiential’ leader to give them the next dose of a ‘Holy Ghost Hose down’.

They often use these out-of context scriptures to justify their experiences and motives.

Acts 2:15 These men are not drunk, as you suppose.

And,

Eph 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

To them also, the Song of Solomon’s justifies this drunken glory movement.

But Paul says:

Rom 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Others come to mind, but I can’t find them at the moment. I will publish them when I get the time.

But it’s worse than just chasing experiences… Remember Dionysus is associated with DRAMA! As a person who has studied drama, in these kind of church cultures, I have found it easy to identify those dramatizing something that is not present or faking being in God’s presence. There is holiness and there’s hype.

What’s odd is also the timing of this so-called ‘New Wine’ (Shakir) doctrine hitting the church globally. As soon as a lot of churches returned to the foundations of solid grace teachings, they focus on the Spirit birthing us as new creatures. This is biblical. But do you see the connection here with Dionysus? A doctrine of a SECOND BIRTH.

Scripturally also, we are RESURRECTED with Christ in this NEW LIFE we share with Him. Now this is where it kilter’s off the narrow road. Rather than living a life disciplined and self-controlled by the Spirit, we see something rather hedonistic manifest in our meetings and mimic the role of Christ. Meaning is lost and we don’t know what second birth, new wine or what resurrection life is any more.

I do believe that God wants us to have fun with Him and experience Him to an extent – but I’ve never seen that be a solid focus in any of the Apostle’s teachings. It seems hedonistic in origin, and as a result, a lot of Christian’s are getting so called ‘drunk’, ‘sloshed’, ‘smashed’, or ‘high’ in the glory of God. Unfortunately, I am led to believe we are following the fox-skinned spirit and not a new-wine-skin Spirit which was Christ’s blood and life, now in us.

If this is a counterfeit spirit in today’s church, can you also see how it mimics the Pass-over meal and some of Jesus’ controversial teachings (‘eat me’). I even recently saw on youtube a really belittling Passover meal. This wasn’t it. It was worse. But here is an example of people who go after experiences but lose the sense and meaning of Passover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-WJ-QqUXsQ

By all means question the articles I write. I myself often become a bit spooked of the parallels that run between the Greek gods and the different types of Jesus’ the church is portraying today. I thank God I am made wary of possible counterfeits. If you’re chasing an experiential Jesus, you might end up eating at the table that does not belong to the lords. Test the spirits at all costs!

While the wine represents the blood of the covenant with our God, the wine of Dionysus makes us forget. While we partake in eating the bread and are reminded of the life we partake in through Christ’s Holy Spirit, the animalistic feasts of Dionysus make us forget how we should approach the communion feast, soberly.

Remember that Dionysus is also associated with theatre. Communion is based in reality, not a romantic ideal or occasion which is often portrayed in today’s church as well. With a romantic approach to the cross, a lot more meaning and reality is lost, and so too is Christ’s down to earth message of His love to us.

So I encourage people to beware of the counterfeit wine which belongs to Folly and not get poisoned on Dionysus’ poison ivy concealed in the wine (1). Beware people or groups who turn church into a theatre-scape by faking the spirit, tempting you to fit in and fake it too, OR romanticize doctrines in the bible where the true meaning is lost (2). Beware the temptations to chase wrong experiences out of hedonistic ideals (3). Beware of the ‘New-Wine’, ‘second birth’ doctrines that can lead you down the paths of experiential deception. (5). Beware of the mystic road these experiences can take you down.

Let me say this again in point form so you can possibly observe the counterfeit signs you may come across:

1.     Test the cup you are encouraged to drink from

2.     Test to see if there are spiritual theatrics in the room

3.     Test the experiences to see if they are God given

4.     Test the doctrines that relate to wine and second births.

5.     Know the roads of mysticism and spiritism but avoid them!

In writing this, there are some ministries that I know that fit these descriptions too well. This disturbs me greatly and is freaky! This unfortunately, is the latest Jesus that is being presented to the church. And oddly enough, in relation to theater, it’s followers love to dress up as pirates, princesses, faeries, monks, nuns, super-humans/heroes and odd animals. So I’ve had to update this ‘other’ Gospel accordingly

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THE Experiential GOSPEL

Names: Drunken Glory Movement, Slosh Fest, New Mystics, Ghost Toking, New Wine, Wine Barrel, Crack House,

Works: Spirit encourages people to imitate a stupefied, drunk, stoned or trippy Jesus for hedonistic, ecstatic or experiential sake.

Greek God Gospel: The Gospel of Dionysus/Bacchus

Outcome: ABUSIVE SUBSTANCE