Bad Habits to Break

J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma magazine who still writes a weekly column for them called “Fire in My Bones.” Brother Grady often points out things done by Spirit-filled Christians that need changing. One of his best articles is titled “9 Bad Charismatic Habits We Need to Break” (which was published five years ago). I encourage you to read Lee’s article in its entirety but will share the list of habits…

1. The body slam

2. The courtesy drop

3. The song that never ends

4. The amateur flag corp

5. The wannabe telethon offering

6. The sermon with seven endings

7. The praise-a-go-go dancers

8. The ear-shattering amp

9. The “jump-start” glossalalia

After reading Brother Grady’s article, I thought of two more annoying Pentecostal practices...

* Telling the congregation to “turn to your neighbor” numerous times to say something. I think it’s okay to do this once or twice during a service (I even tried it years ago when giving a speech on Bible prophecy at a Toastmasters meeting) but some preachers overdo it. I’ve been in meetings where the congregation was instructed to “turn to your neighbor” at least ten times during an offering. Depending on who’s preaching, I now sometimes sit in an isolated part of the sanctuary so I won’t have a neighbor next to me uttering vain repetitions.

* Adding an “a” to words when preaching. I heard Andrew Wommack point out how one could recite a nursery rhyme like this to make it sound holy (“Mary had-a little lamb-a, its fleece was-a white as snow-a...”). It actually sounds like one is trying to talk Italian here.

Two other religious habits previously written about on this blog could be included in this list:

* Overusing the word “just” when praying or praising the Lord.

* Worship singers inserting many filler syllables to songs.

Every church has its traditions and every minister has habits that are part of his or her personality. Nevertheless, congregations shouldn’t feel obligated to participate in certain practices if they are not grounded in Scripture.

“making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.” - Mark 7:13