You need to read this article...

Pretty powerful post over on the ::sign of jonah:: blog. A former Vineyard pastor giving his testimony as to the very strange goings-on at TACF during the Tornado Ble-- er, I mean, the Toronto Blessing.

A quick excerpt from the blogpost:

Since leaving the Vineyard churches I have read a fair bit of analysis from the critics. Some make out that the Toronto Blessing was one huge conspiracy to lead the body of Christ into heresy. Heresy and apostasy I suspect may well be the result, but none of these destinations were intentional. I am honestly convinced that the leaders in the Vineyard churches are genuine born-again Christians who love the Lord, but have fallen into deception. They have not loved the Lord enough to keep His commandments. They have failed to obey the scriptures and have been led astray by our longing for something bigger and brighter and more exciting and dynamic.

Well put. I have had limited, peripheral contact with some of the secondary people involved in TB, and I can tell you to a man they really did/do love Jesus and His Church, and really did think that they were being obedient to Him in all the wackiness involved in the TB, and really did think they were being/bringing in a real blessing.

Their one fault, which rippled out into all that eventually became and came from the "Toronto Blessing" is summed up incredibly well in this one sentence: "They have failed to obey the scriptures and have been led astray by our longing for something bigger and brighter and more exciting and dynamic." They longed for something bigger and brighter and more dynamic than the verbal, confluent, plenary, inspired Word of God.

Guys, this is huge.

It's downright galactically huge.

Especially in light of all the pressure to follow after experience without context.

Experience is good; our God is a living, dynamic God. I do not believe He went AWOL at the close of the "Apostolic Age." Whenever that was.

But all experience -- all things -- must be viewed and evaluated through the unmediated Word. That's why at Calvary Chapel on the Lakeshore, if there's no solid Biblical justification, we don't do it. Period.

Andrew's Paul's e-mail (posted over at ::sign of jonah::) is eloquent testimony to where doing otherwise ultimately leads.