Here's a quote from a book by Eugene Peterson that rings true for me after some of my encounters with people and ministries here in Prince George in the last couple of weeks. But before I get to the quote, here's some of the stuff that's going on out there under the umbrella of something that is apparently known as Christianity:

1. I saw a woman "drunk in the Spirit" after a charismatic weekend ladies' retreat. Apparently the Spirit causes one to laugh very loudly and somewhat eerily.
2. I heard another woman speak about the revelations she was receiving via something called a "rema word" (which is apparently a special revelation of some sort that comes to your receptive mind like a bolt of lightning).
3. I heard someone else promising a man who lives in a homeless shelter that if he trusted in Jesus his life would get better and he'd find a home.
4. I met someone who had been knocked over flat on her back by the Holy Spirit at a Benny Hinn Holy Spirit Power Spectactular Extravaganza (or whatever those circus sideshow events are called).
5. I've seen demons of spiritual oppression being "bound" in passionate and vibratory displays of spirit-inspired prayer (what kind of spirit was inspiring this prayer is not entirely clear to me).
6. I've seen people being prayed over and promised release from the spirits of sin that were binding them. Deeply troubled people walked away from these impressive performances with the same dead, empty look that they had before they had gone forward to receive the "special blessing."

All of these people were willing to try anything to get their life straightened out, but I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that they were being fed poison instead of life-giving food, and magic tricks instead of the gospel of Christ. So, with that in mind, here's Eugene Peterson:

"For many, religion - both bizarre and the ordinary Christian variety - is a means to success in business, gaining or preserving health, protection against harm, and attaining a never-ending existence. The theory that God functions as a crutch for man, who cannot stand on his own two feet, does not begin to convey the brashness of the phenomena. Plugging into the supernatural is more like a greedy exploitation of a bonanza... I now have become aware that a more pressing problem is not a shortage of religion, but far too much bad religion...

Religious leaders perpetuate Simon's sin [the sin of Simon the Magician, who saw the gospel as a superior version of the magic he had been practicing, Acts 8] when they encourage people to come to God in order to get 'power.' All who preach formulas, who promise rewards, who nurture the supposition that gain, whether financial, physical, or emotional, can be gotten out of the gospel, fall under the ban: 'Your silver perish with you!' (Acts 8:20)."