Just to push the Charismatic boat a bit further out for you to think about. I referred in my last blog to supernatural fragrance. A good friend told me that one of the signs of epilepsy is that you can smell fragrances that are not there. Well, he was not dismissive at all of the claims I made, and has himself had many wonderful experiences of God and blesses me often with what he is learning about God in what is for him a difficult time… but maybe you are trying to find a rational explanation for what I wrote about?

All I know is that the fragrance at CLAN filled the whole building and was noticed and delighted in by thousands of people. Mass hypnosis? Well I guess some people have tried that argument with the five hundred who saw the risen Lord at the one time. What was particualrly beautiful was that some baby Christians from my own congregation, at that  time , St. Peter’s and St.Andrew’s in Thurso, ended up with their shirts drenched in fragrant oil. There was so much there was a pool on the floor around them. The lovley thing was they just presumed that this was the sort of thing that happened to you once you became a Christian. Oh for a generation of born again people who have not been told “God doesn’t do this, doesnt do that!”

FEAR OF FALSE OR COUNTERFEIT FIRE CAN MAKE US SETTLE FOR NO FIRE AT ALL.  IT CAN MAKE US SPEAK AGAINST THE REAL FIRE AND TAKE US PERILOUSLY CLOSE TO THE TERRITORY OF BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT… by the way, “Charismatics” are just as likely to tread this ground as anyone else… so much rivalry, so many movements speaking against other movements, writers speaking against other writers etc. Hope you are not frowning as you read this. Do you find it hard to believe that God can do beautiful things just because He wants to and that He can  call into being things that are not? God making copious amounts of oil seems quite biblical to me…and I don’t see why He would choose to make it to smell rancid…

Oh by the way I had a conatiner full of the oil: It is all used up now. It had no particular powers that it added to ordinary prayer; it would have been easy to assume it would have  had such powers and for superstitions to develop around it perhaps to counter the question, “What was the point of it?”   There are a lot of pointless daisies in the world.  Our God is the Lord of hosts, which basically just means “many.”  We really don’t need as many stars. We could even do with less music, colour etc. I guess God likes daisies, stars and colours a lot – he makes hosts of them.  Maybe He even likes the daisies you hate in your lawn! Why should God only make useful things? Can’t  He make something that has no other purpose but to be beautiful and make us smile?  Oil can be both useful and beautiful. In this case, it simply was beautiful…. oh yes, there was a fleck or two of gold in it as well which was quite curious…I know that one day, face to face, “We shall see the King, IN HIS BEAUTY!”

God Bless

Kenny