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| Korn's Brian Welch and Fieldy, in "Holy Ghost" |
Linda and I saw Darren Wilson's new film "Holy Ghost" last night. We liked it very much. And, the opening concert by Jake Hamilton and his band was a killer worship set.
What stays with me are the scenes with Korn band members Brian Welch, Fieldy, and Todd White. Brian and Fieldy have become Jesus-followers, and they are taking their faith and the message of God's love and power to others. I was deeply moved and taken back to my early Jesus Movement days. I have not only seen things like this but participated in them. (Brian's book Save Me From Myself was one of my favorite reads a few years ago.)
God's love + power. We need both. In the Bible we see both. I have experienced both, many times personally and many times with others. The love-power scenes in this movie are familiar to me and profoundly biblical. (For anyone wanting some scholarly backbone to these scenes see, e.g., two friends of mine - Craig Keener's Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts, and Candy Gunther Brown's Testing Prayer: Science and Healing.)
I have never been a cessationist or dispensationalist. When I became a Jesus-follower during the Jesus Movement in 1971 I was rescued out of a lot of drugs, alcohol, sex, and failure. Even though I was raised in a church I knew very little about God, Jesus, and the Bible. I went to my parents' house and got the Bible I was given when I was 12, and began to read. I suggest this: no one would ever come up with cessationism or dispensationalism from just reading the Bible. I know I didn't. The first time someone told me that the spiritual gifts are "not for today" I wondered "Where in the Bible did you read that?" I doubted those theories, and still do. With all due respect to people who hold them, they are unbiblical.
In "Holy Ghost" I see people being loved, being told it is God that loves them, being told about Jesus, being prayed for and experiencing healing like we see Jesus do it in the Bible, being rescued out of bondage, and being introduced to an all-loving, all-powerful, all-knowing Being who gives his followers authority to do the same (John 14-15). I'm still for all of that.
