Hello, Vickie, and welcome to the Highway!
Like you, I too have seen and finally recognized the shouting and noise as attempts to either "conjure up the Holy Ghost," so to speak, or to conjure up enough "faith" to move Him.
Either way, by very definition, any attempt to manipulate God (whether through noise or by conjuring up "the force of faith" or to "make oneself believe enough") is nothing short of
witchcraft. The mere fact that the name of Jesus is used instead of other incantations changes nothing. It is still based entirely on a false premise - the wrong definition of faith. Not to mention the wrong definition of God and of His sovereign rule over all His creation. I am reminded oft Jesus' words describing this kind of prayer in His own time:
When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that they may be seen by men... (Matthew 6:5)."
Because it is not so much that they are trying to convince
themselves of what they are saying, as much as they seek to be perceived by others as having great faith so that others will look up to them.
I always blamed myself for not having sufficient faith, or sufficient willingness to shout and jump and make a fool of myself in front of others... and note that the hype is almost always done in a
corporate setting where people can play off one another's emotions (which we called "building up one another's faith"). But my most fervent and most
effective prayer always took place in the closet.
Thanks for your observations, and again, welcome!
