One of the vexations of my Quaker soul is that Quakers have a bad name among conservative Christians because of the lack of information on orthodox/evangelical Quakers. About the only things most people think about Quaker is that you can do just about whatever you want to do and be a good Quaker. (Oh, yeah we don’t fight.) There are even Non-theist Quakers--- they do not have a faith in God. These “Quakers” are atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, pantheists and wiccaists. The “revelation” for this group of Quaker just appeared from out of the “inner light”.
When I speak with “Quakers” who talk of the Inner Light they feel following the “light” is all that is important on their spiritual journey, I wonder if they have forgotten this is a “Christ centered” Christian journey? Some have gone so far as to disregard the scriptures altogether. They follow a “continuing revelation”. It is almost as if you must become a physic to be a Christian. I read a nationwide poll sponsored by the University of Chicago which showed 67 percent of the public claiming to have psychic experiences. I am sure there were some Quakers in that group. Today almost anyone who has a "revelation" from a supernatural source quickly becomes an authority on spiritual matters. It seems to be "open season" for a continuing revelation without a bench mark to measure the truthfulness of the revelation. Personal experience may not be denied, but to be accepted there must be an accepted rule by which to judge the experience. We are cautioned not to believe every spirit. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but [try the spirits] whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."(1 John 4:1) What guide or rule do we have to judge the validity of someone's personal revelation if the Scriptures are denied or not accepted as an authority or foundation of our faith?
It is not difficult to understand the blindness in which those who deny portions of the Scriptures, like the doctrine of atonement, for Paul also wrote concerning those who walk in blindness, "For I bear them record that they have a [zeal of God], but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Denying the teaching of a “continuing revelation” is not an argument with the Christocentric believer (Christocentric is a word I learned from non-Christ centered Quakers) but rather with God. It is not the words of Christocentric which are being denied but rather the words of God. The revelation early Friends taught was the revelation of Truth in God's word---the Scriptures. The revelations we hear today are supplements to the Bible and must be accepted by the church as the key for unity.
The new revelations, which the Friends allegedly need in order to move on to maturity, come through a class of "Quakers with standing" who are not to be judged. And since judging is out of order, only these self-appointed prophets can decide what is good for the community of Friends. Individuals not on their spiritual level are not competent to make a judgment. Of course the chief proponents of this teaching considers themselves to have "special standing" with God. This dangerous and destructive teaching contradicts numerous Scriptures. Paul was not afraid to have his teaching judged in fact he encouraged it. If the apostle Paul's teaching were to be judged then so must the teachings of any "prophet" or church leader today, no matter what their standing. Those who fail to do so will not be able to plead ignorance for embracing the false teaching being propagated by those who seem to be proud to be, "biblically unsound, "non-Christocentric Universalist.
If there is to be a return to biblical primitive Christianity, then no one in the church can claim immunity from correction. There is, unfortunately, a form of Christian “guruism” that has placed certain leaders within the Christian church, on a pedestal of infallibility. To question anything they say or do is considered to be "touching" the "anointed of the Lord." which was forbidden in the Old Testament. They forget if they are wrong, we get to stone them---well that is the Law. If we are going to keep part of the Law let’s keep it all.
The basis of our spiritual knowledge is from the Scripture as taught by the Holy Spirit. There can be no contradiction of the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures. Anyone who denies this is a false-teacher. "These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. (1 John 2:26-28)
Orthodox/Evangelicals or Christocentrics have a right to be upset about the new messages coming from a “continuing revelation. A prominent Quaker was asked if we need a new mythology. She thought not, but that we need to revitalize the old myths. “I believe that only a new mythology can save us now. The myths by which we live are destroying us: myths that convince us we have dominion over the earth, that give a hierarchical, dualistic, anthropocentric conceptualization of reality, myths that scapegoat women and belittle their possible contribution to solving our problems. Unfortunately, these myths are rooted in the Bible."
The issues facing not only Friends but others in the Christian faith is far more reaching than seeking new revelations from God. The issue is accepting the authority of God in our lives, and the message of this authority in the Bible. The rejection has been cloaked in the pious pretense of religious zeal and devotion. As though they have obeyed the message they protest the judgment which has been against them, "But, Lord, we did it all for the good of mankind"--- progressive Christianity. They have selfishly contrived to place the limits of God in their own "continuing revelation," rather than what God intended in the Scriptural revelation.
The religion of Jesus Christ aims at nothing less than utter overthrow of all other systems of religions of the world; denouncing them as inadequate to the wants of man, false in their foundations, and dangerous in their tendency. If this seems narrow-minded, bigoted, and dogmatic it is the course which I have chosen it was the course of early Quakers--- it is the plan of Jesus Christ.
The clear issue is maturity and stability in the faith, soundness of doctrine, and the proclamation of the truth, all which are based in the Scriptures. What it all comes down to in the final analysis is a matter of one's personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Whether we really know God or not makes the difference between eternal life and eternal death.
The reason many are spiritually weak, is because we have allowed our hearts to conform to the "spirit of this age" we are no longer the primitive voice of Biblical Christianity as were the early Friends, but we have become the "sounding brass and tinkling cymbals" of our day. Let us return to the days of primitive Christianity by repentance and revival. "If [my people], which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." -- 2 Chronicles 7:14
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