Grave Soakng

Bil Johnson's  Bethel Church, in Reading Clalifornia  preaches a phenomenon (though it tries to deny it does, but that is beyond my scope) they call Grave Soaking.

In it they claim that by laying on the graves of famous dead Christians they can pick up "the anointing"  or the "power"  that was atttached to these dead saints  and that the can reclaim it for themselves

Grave soaking is utterly irrational.

It regards the power of God as a THING  ( the technical  word for turning an aspect into a THING is reification). and this is pure superstition.

For example: Though I might love someone  - a name does spring to mind  - though you might find a token of said affection, a gift a note you will never find the love itself laying on the ground or floating in the ethr. It is not an entity, but an attitude. It is therefore NOT a thing. It is real but not materially so

So clearly any emotional experience the feel at said gravesite is of no significance. People feel all manner of things all the time. They mean nothing. Truth was never based on feeling

For a church that professes to be protestant  it is rather odd that they should treat the appurtenances of the dead  as if having reified power attached to them. Incidentally they misuse the word "anointing" to justify this.  In medieval  catholic Europe  it was the bones or clothing etc of dead saints that was believed to have this power, with Bethel it is the  graves of them)

and even if this power were an existing entity rather than their  memory of an ability that some  person now dead  was given by God  why would they seek to go to IT directly rather than to God Himself?

This is idolatry. It makes the corpses or gravesites of dead belivers a mediator between God and Man. and there is none bar Christ Himself.

I distinguish power from ability. I have the ability to play a musical instrument to a professional level. but this did not happen by anything other than inborn talent and  much work. it did NOT result from me being imbued with a reified energy -  that which charismatics all too often call "power".

So I, who really was once a musician,  (my logon on some social media outlets) have the ability to perform on the classical upright bass but I  not have , as they define the term, the power to do such.

I end by repeating to reify power into an essence, a THING,   like electricity is irrational; and idolatrous. for the power whereby they misdefine  the ability of God as being a reiftied essence,  DOES NOT EXIST.

in terms of the biblical text to turn God's power into a thing that they may seek in itself  is pure eisegesis (bringing to the text what is NOT in it). and they  got there by liking his power to electricity and then twisting scripure to fit.

Even though Samson was embued with strength and the first christians with the  power to preach these are not entities in their own right separate form God Himsel. Rather they were God Himself in action.

But as always they seek  the power of God rather that the God of, among a huge host of other things, of  power