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In Pentecostal churches throughout the U.S., messages in tongues on the decline
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/31/in-pentecostal-churches-t_n_3849102.html
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Prophecy:
“[Dr. Wayne] Grudem thinks that [people who think God speaks to them, confirmed by their personal feelings]… should simply avoid saying [‘The Holy Spirit told me‘, or ‘God put it on my heart‘] and instead use an expression like, ‘I think the Lord is putting on my mind… [and might be] partially mistaken‘… The problem with this approach is twofold. First, that is not what most Christians throughout history have considered to be [how God speaks to His elect ]. It also undermines inerrancy. After all, how can we trust the prophets who wrote parts of the Bible were not ‘sometimes partially mistaken‘ about what the Holy Spirit brought to their minds? Second, all faithful Christians believe the Holy Spirit has, at some time or another, ‘put something on their mind‘ since Jesus told us that the Spirit would ‘guide you into all the truth‘ ( John 16:13 ). Does that mean that all believers have the gift of prophecy [i.e. are spoken to directly by almighty God]? In a sense, that is indeed what many evangelicals believe. Many use phrases like ‘God told me‘… in the same way that New Age-types talk about ‘my truth.‘ The phrase ‘my truth‘ is usually meant to mean some combination of ‘my opinion‘ and ‘my experience‘… Unlike either of these phrases, the phrase ‘my truth‘ implies an unarguable quality. You can’t contradict me, because this is my truth. Similarly, when Christians say ‘God told me‘ [or ‘God put it on my heart‘] they are implying that disagreeing or contradicting them would be to take up a dispute with the Trinity… When challenged, though, they often fall back on [a twofold, logically inconsistent, and therefore anti-bibliical] argument… The first claim is difficult to support, and so when people call them out on it, the arguer retreats to a version of the claim that is different and easier to defend position. For example, when people say ‘God told me‘ [or ‘God put it on my heart‘] they truly mean to imply that their information [or opinion] was given to them by God in the traditional sense of being authoritative and divinely inspired… This is… what they really want us to believe and accept as true. But because that would mean their internal revelation is equivalent in authority and inspiration to any verse in the Bible, they fall back on their… [logically less vulnerable] argument [that] while their impression was from God, it’s possible it could be mistaken… They can then switch back and forth between the two arguments to suit their [emotional and/or persuasive] needs. This presents a win-win [i.e. a no-lose situation for people claiming to have had their subjective opinions objectively confirmed by almighty, infallible God]… If their [opinion] proves correct, it confirms they were speaking for God, and you should consider the utterances to be authoritative; [but] if their [opinion] proves false, it merely shows they gave a human — and perhaps partially mistaken — report of something the Holy Spirit brought to their mind. [This anti-logical, and therefore anti-Christ-ian] approach [to argumentation] provides a means to shut down criticism and dissent in the same way secularists do: by claiming to be ‘speaking my truth.‘ Taken to the extreme, this internal prophetic ability can even be used to deny reality and justify ignoring disconfirming facts or evidence… This view of prophecy is in keeping with the postmodern view of truth. It prioritizes the subjective, internal, and private over the objective, external, and universally accessible. What we feel is true or what we want to be true becomes ‘my truth.‘ God has [supposedly] spoken ‘truth‘ to an individual that may or may not correspond to reality. How can we know? The result is that the pseudo-[confirmations of opinions from God] undermines such doctrines as [I]nspiration and [S]pecial [R]evelation and cause people to question the inerrancy of Scripture.”
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-postmodern-pseudo-prophecy-dishonors-god/
[So, what are some examples of this kind of “truth” supposedly being revealed by God to modern “prophets“? Thousands of examples could be offered, but ASND will feature only a miniscule few.]
To Those Who Prophesied Trump’s Reelection:
Admit your error and take full responsibility
https://stream.org/a-strong-appeal-to-those-who-prophesied-trumps-reelection/
[See, also, this satirical approach to the same error.]
and…
Harold Camping Admits Sin, Announces End to Doomsday Predictions
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Angels and Demons
Pentecostalism is the world’s fastest growing religious movement. But in much of Africa, it’s fueling witch-hunts and the spread of HIV/AIDS
and…
“This year’s Easter service at the Tabernacle Church of God in La Follette, Tenn… [was] filled with shouting, dancing, speaking in tongues, serpent handling and fire handling…”
[No word yet, at least that ASND could find, on whether those “serpents” were poisonous or not.]
and…
Serpent-handling pastor dies from rattlesnake bite
[ASND has not doubt that that “serpent” was poisonous.]
[BTW, do you know that “pastor’s” father died about twenty years ago?]
“Wolford’s father, also a preacher, died from a rattlesnake bite during a service in 1983.”
and…
“Hamblin and other handlers say the Bible tells people to obey the law. So he wears a seat belt while driving, obeys the speed limit and files his taxes on time. But he won’t give up serpent handling, which he says is a command from God — even though Tennessee outlawed it in 1947 after five people died of serpent bites at churches in two years… The ban is rarely enforced, unless someone dies in a church. Because most handlers like Hamblin catch their own snakes and keep them for months at a time, they’re also running afoul of other state laws.“
and…
Some evangelicals are being taught to pray in circles around the things they want.
http://www.challies.com/christian-living/dont-pray-in-circles
and…
Are We Charismatics Doing Enough to Correct Abuses in Our Midst?
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Another Slow News Day 