Q. A few months ago during praise and worship a woman in the congregation says she saw a white mist weaving in and out through the choir and she believes it was the Holy Spirit. It seemed to take hold of a man in the choir and he leapt off the stage and danced around the same way the white mist had been doing. Was this of God?
A. I cannot comment confidently on the “white mist” manifestation in your church, since one would had to have been there to assess the situation and judge the issue against the background of what God says in His Word, what He is doing in your church and the integrity of the persons involved. Again, this is a matter that needs to be judged by the local assembly under the guidance of the leadership.
Purely on a superficial basis, however, let me say that there are too many spurious manifestations purporting to be from God and which serve only to draw attention to people, whereas the manifestation of the Spirit is given primarily to glorify the Lord Jesus and profit the whole Body of Christ by way of edification, exhortation and comfort.
Good rules of thumb questions are,
“Does it glorify Jesus?” and,
“Does it edify, exhort and comfort the Body of Christ, the Church?”
Generally I would say that manifestations outside of what the Bible directs should be approached with great caution and tested stringently against the fruit they produce.
It occurs to me that God has made wonderful provision for the expression of the supernatural Gifts of the Holy Spirit where the Church may be blessed and directed by:
- Three Utterance Gifts – Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues and Prophecy,
- Three Revelation Gifts – Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge and the Discerning of Spirits,
- Three Power Gifts – Healings, Miracles and the Gift of Faith.
I must say that it baffles me that people go after the strangest manifestations when God has given us such profound and miraculous supernatural gifts that, in present times, have been sadly neglected.