{"id":22547,"date":"2013-11-02T13:09:05","date_gmt":"2013-11-02T13:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?p=22547"},"modified":"2025-11-05T11:59:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T11:59:28","slug":"strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Worshipping with your mind and spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Today in our series addressing the Strange Fire<\/em><\/a> book, we turn to the idea of worship. Lets jump straight into refuting the arguments used by MacArthur on this stubject:<\/p>\n

Argument<\/strong>: Charismatic worship is mindless, vacuous, and involves emptying your mind.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Counter argument:\u00a0<\/strong>This is not so much a biblical argument against charismaticism per see but an argument against craziness in worship, to which I say amen! Against those who claim we should empty our minds, or stop being so rational to allow the Spirit to move, MacArthur is quite correct to cite \u201cYou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind<\/strong>\u201d (Matt. 22:37).<\/p>\n

I have always been taught that an empty mind is an open invitation to the evil one to inhabit it with his spirits. This argument is partly made from the following verse:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, \u2018I will return to my house from which I came.\u2019 And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.\u201d (Matthew 12:43-45)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is absolutely correct to criticise those who advocate emptying our mind, we are to FILL our minds. Charismatics that I have come accross teach us to fill our minds with thoughts of Jesus and with the truth of his word.<\/p>\n

But one thing I noticed that wasn\u2019t much addressed in MacArthur\u2019s book was the following verse:<\/p>\n

John 4:24 \u201cGod is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Worshipping God in Spirit is central to the charismatic approach to worship, and it is something that is not much addressed as far as I can see in cessationist circles.<\/p>\n

Argument: Charismatic worship is about surrendering control and feeling \u201cpossessed\u201d making this a demonic experience<\/strong><\/p>\n

Counter Argument:<\/strong> MacArthur gives an example of someone who described feeling their body was taken over. I would simply say that in my experience this is not something that is encouraged in most charismatic and pentecostal<\/a> circles. The verse that is often cited is \u201cthe spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets.\u201d (1 Cor 14:32). Those who claim \u201cthe Spirit made me\u201d are usually immature, over-excitable people. They are routinely encouraged to be more self-controlled. There is a clear biblical perspective on this that the Spirit does not take us over. We must never simply surrender, that is not how it works with God.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today in our series addressing the Strange Fire book, we turn to the idea of worship. Lets jump straight into refuting the arguments used by MacArthur on this stubject: Argument: Charismatic worship is mindless, vacuous, and involves emptying your mind. Counter argument:\u00a0This is not so much a biblical argument against charismaticism per see but an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[352,191],"tags":[562,413],"class_list":["post-22547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-strange-fire","category-worship","tag-prophecy","tag-worship-2"],"yoast_head":"\nWorshipping with your mind and spirit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today in our series addressing the Strange Fire book, we turn to the idea of worship. Lets jump straight into refuting the arguments used by MacArthur on\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Worshipping with your mind and spirit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today in our series addressing the Strange Fire book, we turn to the idea of worship. Lets jump straight into refuting the arguments used by MacArthur on\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-11-02T13:09:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-05T11:59:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adrianwarnock\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrian Warnock\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/\",\"name\":\"Worshipping with your mind and spirit\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-11-02T13:09:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-05T11:59:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa\"},\"description\":\"Today in our series addressing the Strange Fire book, we turn to the idea of worship. Lets jump straight into refuting the arguments used by MacArthur on\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Worshipping with your mind and spirit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/\",\"name\":\"Adrian Warnock\",\"description\":\"Patheos Evangelical\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa\",\"name\":\"Adrian Warnock\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Adrian Warnock\"},\"description\":\"The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience carry us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. I am the author of the Transformed by Jesus: Spiritual Renewal series of books, which ask: \u2192 Is the Easter story true, and what does it mean? Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything \u2192 Why is change so difficult? What causes the resistance? The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts \u2192 How does transformation happen over time? Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart \u2192 What are the first steps on a journey of faith? Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus These books bring together medical, psychological, social, and faith-based insights, advocating for a biopsychosocial\u2013spiritual model of wellbeing. My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Worshipping with your mind and spirit","description":"Today in our series addressing the Strange Fire book, we turn to the idea of worship. Lets jump straight into refuting the arguments used by MacArthur on","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Worshipping with your mind and spirit","og_description":"Today in our series addressing the Strange Fire book, we turn to the idea of worship. Lets jump straight into refuting the arguments used by MacArthur on","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/","og_site_name":"Adrian Warnock","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/","article_published_time":"2013-11-02T13:09:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-05T11:59:28+00:00","author":"Adrian Warnock","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adrianwarnock","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Adrian Warnock","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/","name":"Worshipping with your mind and spirit","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-11-02T13:09:05+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-05T11:59:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa"},"description":"Today in our series addressing the Strange Fire book, we turn to the idea of worship. Lets jump straight into refuting the arguments used by MacArthur on","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/2013\/11\/strange-fire-every-biblical-argument-refuted-worshipping-with-your-mind-and-spirit\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Worshipping with your mind and spirit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/","name":"Adrian Warnock","description":"Patheos Evangelical","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/4dc7481b9baa3553d9a7698715084eaa","name":"Adrian Warnock","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e5ff2076e287d1578e3b13fc015d78be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Adrian Warnock"},"description":"The resurrection of Jesus changes everything. Just not all at once. Healing takes time. Compassion and patience carry us over a lifetime of change. These are the themes I explore in my books and in the articles I have written for Patheos since 2003. My writing draws on my scientific training as a doctor and psychiatrist, my work in the UK's National Health Service and the pharmaceutical industry, alongside more than twenty-five years as a member of a growing church where I served on the leadership team offering pastoral care. My perspective has also been shaped by chronic illness since 2017, when I developed life-threatening pneumonia that caused lasting damage to my body, triggered several further conditions, and uncovered a diagnosis of blood cancer. This was successfully treated, although doctors expect it to return in the future. Out of these experiences I founded Blood Cancer Uncensored, an online patient-led support community. I am the author of the Transformed by Jesus: Spiritual Renewal series of books, which ask: \u2192 Is the Easter story true, and what does it mean? Raised With Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything \u2192 Why is change so difficult? What causes the resistance? The Traitor Within: Understanding and Healing Our Deceitful Hearts \u2192 How does transformation happen over time? Amazing Grace: How Faith Grows in the Human Heart \u2192 What are the first steps on a journey of faith? Hope Reborn: How to Become a Christian and Live for Jesus These books bring together medical, psychological, social, and faith-based insights, advocating for a biopsychosocial\u2013spiritual model of wellbeing. My qualifications and training reflect this integrated background: \u2192 British MB BS medical degree (equivalent to an MD in the USA) \u2192 Postgraduate qualifications in Psychiatry (MRCPsych) and Pharmaceutical Medicine (MFFM, DipPharmMed) \u2192 Theological training courses run by Newfrontiers","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/adrianwarnockpage\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/adrianwarnock"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/author\/awarnock\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/adrianwarnock\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}