Adventures in Charismania, Part 2: Be Ye Drunk!

It was at the same prophetic conference that my friend Karl stumbled towards me. I liked Karl a lot. He was a musician; a pretty good worship leader and guitar player; and a fun guy to be around. Although he kept it pretty hidden, Karl also had anger issues. His church had cast a “spirit of anger” out of him, but for some reason it kept coming back.

Karl’s church was part of a Charismatic movement called “The New Wine”. They believed, among other things, that one manifested the infilling of the Holy Spirit by appearing drunk. Obviously this was based on a unique application of Acts chapter 2. I used to sometimes run sound for their services and enjoyed the antics as people stumbled around laughing, bumping into things, hiccupping and raising toasts with imaginary glasses filled with 100-proof Holy Spirit.

So here came Karl, weaving towards me like Otis the town drunk. He put his arm around my shoulders and slurred, “You know, the Bible says to be drunk with the Holy Spirit.” Then he careened away – giggling – bouncing off of chairs and people.

I didn’t get a chance to tell him that the Bible actually says “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” (Eph. 5:18) and “Be sober of spirit. Be on the alert.” (1 Pet. 5:8).

But then, he probably wouldn’t have wanted to hear that anyway.