Article by Bill Lewis, Director ATMI

We avoid. We run. We refuse calls. We are silent. We are avoiding the obvious. We ignore the elephant in the room even though it is huge and smelly.

Problems do not go away just because we pretend they are not there. In fact, the problem gets worse when ignored. Disobedience is emboldened, rebellion is encouraged from tacit silence.

We have been pretending that it is business as usual, even though we are in the midst of some drastic changes. The Charismatic movement is over, emphatically over. Let’s face it, it is gone, done, caput. It is time to put it in the history book and move on. We can celebrate the history and the joys, but, come on, it is over.

The young people are hungry for a move of God NOW. As long as you live in the past, you cannot embrace the present or the future. The emerging church of 20’s and 30’ need the impact of God in a move for their generation. I need the move of God to stay with the cloud of His glory and present-ness.

It is time to be bold. Forget the Obama’s and Pelosi’s and remember God! Concentrate on God, not on politics. Look to God’s economy, not the world’s.

Lee Grady in the latest issue of Charisma Magazine put it quite well. “1. The charismatic movement as we know it has ended. I celebrate what God did in recent years to bring the Holy Spirit's renewal to the church. My life was totally changed by it. But the cloud is moving, and we cannot pitch our tents around the revivals of the past. While we embrace the eternal things He gave us in those days, we must discard the styles and methods that are no longer fruitful so we can advance.

That doesn't mean we throw the baby out with the bathwater. We cling to what is good. But we must leave behind the excesses, extremes, and flaky doctrines that give us a bad name. The one-man show is over. The prosperity circus was a failure. We must abandon the deceptive hype of the past. People today are craving authenticity—not shallow words and empty promises.”

So, let’s face it. It is over, it has been over for a long time and we have been ignoring the elephant in the room. Quit longing for something that is gone, lest we be as Lot’s wife and turn into a pillar of salt staring back at what was.

This is a time for bold pursuit. Pursuit of what is not known, pursuit of God who is ready to continue His labors with willing vessels. Looking at the moves of God beginning with the Book of Acts, we have some dimensions of His move missing. We no longer have the house to house daily excitement.  People are dependent on the weekly meeting to sustain themselves. The house to house dimension during the week is missing; yet I find that some of our young people are almost daily with each other, talking of what God is going to do. (That is the seed of revolution).

Biblically, prophetically, there is going to be a great falling away and at the same time, a great in-gathering. So, that means that the falling away part has to be those who were with God and the in-gathering has to be with those who have not known Him. If you are the church goer, you are the one in danger of the falling away. You are the one who may look back. You may be the one who says the giants of the present are too much for you. Woe unto you. Hebrews talks of those who once tasted of the glory of God who fell away. Woe to you if you fall away from lack of interest. Do not say, I am not a sinner. Jesus talks about those who prophesied in his name and healed in his name, these he told depart from me, I never knew you. Take heed.

Let’s face it. The old is over, the new is coming. Are you in for the new? If you let the circus of the past, the people of the past who hurt you, keep you from God, how sad it will be.