"In studies of charismatic movements, an essential aspect is often overlooked: any authentic religion requires assumption by faith, (to have no other Gods other than Me!). Or precisely this kind of mentality is promoted in the charismatic movements, of spiritual openness, which is willing to give credit to everything, is specific to culture, not religion. The religious dimension of the charismatic believer is of the syncretic type, unity in diversity, not of assumption, but based on the notion of option, and not on dogma, which leads him to donjuanism. Or it is precisely this danger that is underlined by St. Gregory Senaite, who warns us not to receive, if we see, anything sensitive or intelligible, inside or outside, whether it appears to you in the image of Christ, as an angel or a saint, or if it is shown to you as a light. For the mind itself has the ability to imagine things and can change, beware of receiving or rejecting those that do not know for sure come from the Holy Ghost.
The problem of discerning between truth and lie, spiritual or devilish work, is the purpose of this scientific approach. The diverse plethora of charismatic offerings, as well as the interference with traditional Christianity, make us, like Pilate, ask: what is the Truth? or, rather, how can the Truth be distinguished among so many truths?"
Religiosity, values, and acculturation