Fundamental
Evangelistic Association
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©FOUNDATION
A MAGAZINE OF BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALISM
Dennis W. Costella, Editor; Karel Beyer, Production Manager; Matt
Costella,
Copy Editor
M.H. Reynolds, Jr. (1919-1997), Founding Editor
Some
Reflections on the Calvary Chapel Movement
©FOUNDATION Magazine
May-June 2001
A personal, Biblical look at a
burgeoning group of churches
offering believers a mixture of truth and error.
by Robert W. Hurzeler
THE FIRST CHURCH my family
and I attended after we were saved in 1993 was a small Calvary Chapel in
Central Oregon. We still love the people who first discipled us as new
believers. My wife and I had no real background in the doctrines of the
faith. We had very little understanding concerning the rapture, the
millennial reign of Christ, the gifts of the Spirit or the function of
the church in the life of the believer. We were taught many good and
sound teachings by our new family in Christ, and I will be forever
grateful that God used these folks to help us understand Him and know
Him. However, it is not for the good teachings and sound doctrines we
were taught that this article is being written. I write this article not
out of malice, but of love. It is my hope that this article will help
people who attend Calvary Chapels to see and understand the pervasive
and dangerous doctrines within these fellowships and come to a right
understanding of what the Scriptures really teach. This article is
intended to help Fundamental Bible believers understand the errors of
one of the fastest growing and most popular movements in the church
today. The problem with Calvary Chapel lies in it’s Charismatic
theology and its ecumenical nature.
Aberrant Charismatic Theology
The Calvary Chapel
movement promotes and encourages the "line by line, precept by
precept" study of the Scriptures. I thank God for that. I first
learned to deeply love and appreciate the Word of God at a Calvary
Chapel, and I certainly will not fault the movement for its strong
emphasis on the Scriptures. The problem, however, is that Calvary
Chapels teach the errors of the Charismatic movement. Calvary teaches
that the sign and revelatory gifts in the early church are still
available today and should be sought and practiced. They teach their
followers to seek what Charismatics call the "baptism of the Holy
Spirit." According to Calvary doctrine, this baptism is a second
baptism which comes upon the believer subsequent to his salvation.
Any teaching that is contrary
to the teachings of the Bible is, by its very nature, ungodly and
dangerous. Nowhere in God's Word are believers exhorted or encouraged to
seek a second baptism. In fact, the Bible teaches the opposite when It
states, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have
been all made to drink into one Spirit" (I Cor. 12:13) and "There
is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your
calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all,
who is above all, and through all, and in you all (Eph 4:4-6). Those who
seek a second baptism are in direct conflict with the Word of God. The
Scripture states there is but one baptism. Charismatics teach
that there are two. The Bible states all are baptized.
Charismatics teach that only some are baptized.
One leader within the Calvary
Chapel movement, Larry Taylor, writes in the booklet What Calvary
Chapel Teaches:
In our services, we focus on a personal relationship with God
through worship, prayer, and the teaching of the Word of God. We teach
both expositorily and topically. We do not allow speaking in tongues
loudly during services, nor prophecy while a Bible study is in
progress because we do not believe that the Holy Spirit would
interrupt Himself. We have specific "after-glow services"
and believer's meetings when these gifts of the Spirit may be
exercised.1
Calvary Chapel does not teach nor believe in many of the
blatant errors of hyper-Charismatics. Chuck Smith, founder of Calvary
Chapel, does not believe that a Christian can be demon-possessed or that
a person under the Holy Spirit's influence should be out of control or
behave in an undignified manner. He teaches against practices such as
" being slain in the spirit, " barking or laughing
uncontrollably. Calvary's stance seems sensible and orderly, but this
combination of truth and error is what makes these doctrines so
seductive and confusing.
Concerning Fundamentalism,
Taylor writes:
Fundamentalism is that portion of Protestantism which holds to the
literal interpretation of the Scriptures, believing that they are
divinely inspired and inerrant. Hence, the "fundamentals" of
the faith are emphasized. Although the modem news media and the
liberal church scorn fundamentalists as backwards and stupid, the
truth is that fundamentalism has preserved the integrity of God's Word
and held on to the essential doctrines of the orthodox faith ...1
In this instance, Taylor is correct. Fundamentalism has held and
should continue to hold to the fundamentals of the faith. A day does not
go by that I do not thank God for strengthening and raising up men and
women who refuse to compromise the teachings of Scripture with the
philosophies of the world (Col. 2:8).
Taylor then defines
Pentecostalism:
Pentecostalism as a modern movement grew out of the Azusa Street
revival in Los Angeles at the turn of the 20th century, and spawned
denominations that emphasize the fullness of the Holy Spirit and the
exercise of spiritual and Scriptural gifts of the Spirit which had
fallen dormant in the main line churches.1
Taylor points to the Azusa Street revival as the beginning of the
restoration of the "Scriptural gifts of the Spirit."
However, neither the gifts of the Holy Spirit nor the Holy Spirit has
been dormant for the last 1900 years. Only the revelatory and the
miraculous sign gifts "ceased" when the perfect canon of
Scripture was completed in the first century (I Cor. 13:8). The Holy
Spirit has never left the church (Eph. 1:13-14; Heb. 13:5). It must be
noted that the phenomena at Azusa street could not be a true movement of
the Holy Spirit, for there were spiritists, hypnotists and many
unscriptural activities taking place at the Azusa Street Mission. People
who were allegedly under the power of the Holy Spirit were given to fits
of laughing and weeping uncontrollably. Many babbled in unintelligible
gibberish. Much of the same error and unscriptural activity that took
place at Azusa Street is occurring today in places such as Toronto and
Pensacola.
Taylor then defines the
position of the Calvary Chapel as the following:
Over the years, however, fundamentalism, while it clung to the
integrity of God's Word, tended to become rigid, legalistic, and
unaccepting of spiritual gifts. Similarly, Pentecostalism became
enthusiastic and emotional at the expense of the teaching of God's
Word.
Calvary Chapel is the balance between the two. At Calvary Chapel we
believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Bible, and we
encourage their exercise, but always decently and in order, and with
the primary emphasis on the Word of God which we look to as our
primary rule of faith.1
According to Taylor, then, anyone who believes that the gifts of the
foundational Apostolic Period are not for today is "rigid and
legalistic." But the Bible teaches that believers are to base their
beliefs on Scripture alone as opposed to experience—there is nothing
"legalistic" about it. Calvary claims to be the balance
between those who cling to God's Word and those who put emotionalism and
experience in the place of God's Word. This is not balance. Make no
mistake about it, Calvary is teaching grave error. The world teaches us
to seek unity and common ground with those who have beliefs different
from our own. God's Word teaches us to separate from unscriptural
practices. John 8:32 says, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free." We are not instructed to find the
"balance" or the "middle ground." Jesus did not say,
"know the balance, and the balance shall make you free."
Many people who attend
Calvary are either confused or unaware of what Chuck Smith teaches on
the issue of "tongues" being for today. I know I was.
The following quotes are taken from an article entitled "The
Baptism of the Holy Spirit" by Calvary Chapel founder Chuck Smith:
Speaking in tongues is an exercise of faith that is an affront to
my intellect. My intellect used to be very important to me. A
straight-A average was the most important thing in the world when I
was going to school, but God humbled me. I must admit it is very
humbling to pray to God in tongues, for you don't understand what you
are saying. I must by-pass my intellect to communicate with God in the
spirit. I must trust the Holy Spirit to speak to God, instead of my
intellect. I must have faith that He knows, much better than I know,
what is best for me and how to petition God for it. In order to
exercise my faith by speaking in tongues, I must deny that my own
intellect is better able to communicate.2
Chuck Smith bases his belief that one must pray in tongues while
bypassing his intellect on Romans 8:26 which states, "Likewise the
Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray
for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered." This is a misunderstanding and
misapplication of this verse. First, it is not we who are praying or
making intercession; the verse clearly states that "the Spirit
itself maketh intercession." We have nothing to do with His
intercession on our behalf. Second, the Holy Spirit makes intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." This rules out
speaking or groaning out loud in public or in private. Chuck Smith
teaches the same error that extreme Pentecostals and Charismatics use to
justify praying in unintelligible gibberish.
Chuck Smith also believes
that if an individual doubts that he is speaking in tongues because he
has the ability to stop, Satan must be behind it. He writes,
The first hassle you find, the minute you start speaking in an
unknown tongue, is that Satan tells you that you're just making it up.
When he does you're going to stop—just like that. And then he will
say, "See, you were making it up, because you can stop."
That is exactly what he did to me. But Paul said, "I will pray
with the Spirit, and I will pray with understanding." 2
This is the same erroneous teaching that Charismatic seminars promote
when training people to speak in tongues. The people giving the seminar
encourage the participants to "let their voices go" and to
speak out whatever syllables or gibberish is in their head. They are
then told not to let the devil deceive them into thinking it is only
gibberish and not a genuine Holy Spirit-given "prayer
language." How can such faulty teaching be reconciled with what is
clearly stated in God's Word, which says, "For God is not the
author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the
saints" (I Cor. 14:33)?
No one needed to teach the
apostles how to speak in tongues on the day of Pentecost. They did not
speak gibberish but, instead, known languages understood both by them as
well as those hearing them. They spoke intelligible languages as the
"Holy Ghost gave them utterance" (Acts 2:4-1 1). The apostles
had no reason to doubt that this was an act of God. Faith is reasonable,
and we must never "bypass" the mind that God has given us.
"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to
give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is
in you with meekness and fear" (I Pet. 3:15).
When the Pentecostal movement
began at Azusa Street, a clear and definite difference existed between
the emotionally driven Pentecostal and the sober Bible-believing
Fundamentalist. Hyper-Pentecostals were considered
"extremists" and part of the "lunatic fringe." But
this is no longer true today. The Fundamentalist is now the one who is
considered divisive, extreme and unloving while the
Pentecostal/Charismatic churches are considered loving and tolerant.
What has caused this dramatic reversal? Though many factors exist, the
primary reason is that the vast majority of churches have gradually
compromised. Doctrinal issues have been clouded because church leaders
fail to practice Biblical separation from those who promote these
unscriptural doctrines. Many churches have not heeded the apostle Paul's
exhortation: "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause
divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned;
and avoid them" (Rom. 16:17).
Calvary Chapel churches have
played no small part in giving the Charismatic Movement the
respectability it has needed to thrive and flourish. Calvary Chapel, by
taking a so-called moderate or "balanced" stand on
extrabiblical revelation such as prophecy and tongues, has made what was
once considered extreme and unacceptable now appear to be moderate and
credible.
Fellowshipping with Compromisers
Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie,
Chuck Missler and many other well-known leaders of the Calvary Chapel
movement often appear on the hyper-Charismatic Trinity Broadcasting
Network (TBN). By appearing on TBN, these men, by association, actually
endorse TBN's many programs that con money from their faithful viewers.
The manipulative and blatantly unscriptural practices of TBN to raise
money are almost beyond belief. Promising those who send money 100 to
1,000-fold returns on their "seed faith" offerings is only one
of the many deceptions TBN uses to fleece the flock, yet Chuck Smith and
Chuck Missler hosted the "Praise the Lord" broadcast just this
past year. Chuck Smith opposes such unscriptural practices, but then he
appears on TBN. His compromise has a huge impact on those who attend the
various Calvary Chapel churches and who identify strongly with him, for
it implies that this network and its blasphemous "word of
faith" teachings have his stamp of approval. After all, if the
gifts of miracles, tongues and prophecy are for today, who would dare
question or judge TBN's ministry? Galatians 5:9 makes it clear that only
"a little leaven (bad doctrine) leaveneth the whole lump." TBN
has much more than a little leaven. I have heard Chuck Smith warn people
about unscrupulous televangelists on his various radio ministries, but
he rarely names the people or programs against whom he is speaking. An
overseer of the church of God has an obligation to warn other believers
of unscriptural and ungodly practices. How can church leaders warn God's
people if they remain silent for the most part and go so far as to
participate with and, thereby, endorse those who promote unscriptural
teachings for profit?
When church leaders fail to
separate and speak out against the "wolves in sheep's
clothing" that permeate the Charismatic movement, new believers as
well as those who have been poorly taught suffer much confusion. I did
not know what to think about the sign and revelatory gifts when I
attended Calvary Chapel. I was in a perpetual fog about the person and
function of God the Holy Spirit. I was never certain whether or not one
or two baptisms existed. I often wondered, if all the spiritual gifts
were still for today, why had I never met or even heard of anyone who
had the gifts of healing or miracles. I am not referring to the
theatrics and alleged miracles displayed on TBN, but to genuine miracles
such as described in Acts chapter 3. The man who had been born lame from
his mother's womb had never walked a day in his life and was over 40
years old. This same man was healed with merely a word from the apostle
Peter. In Acts chapter 4, we read that the scribes, elders and rulers of
the people could not deny that this healing was a true miracle. These
same people desperately wanted to crush the infant church, and if there
had been any way at all to dismiss this amazing miracle, these Jewish
leaders would have used it. The antics and so-called miracles seen on
TBN not only are refutable but bring shame on the church and degrade the
name of Jesus Christ in the eyes of unbelievers.
I remained confused and
uncertain as to what to believe while attending Calvary. For a period of
time I wondered if I had any hope of coming to a right understanding of
the spiritual gifts issue. One day when surfing the internet for
Christian apologetics web sites, I found the "Bible Believers Resource Page"
hosted by the Fundamental
Evangelistic Association. What an eye opener! I clicked on the topic
"Charismatic Movement" and began to read the article titled
"Is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Subsequent to Conversion?" written by J. A. McConnelee in 1927.
When I read the article, it was as if scales fell from my eyes. I found
the truth. There was only one Baptism and one Spirit, received once, at
conversion. I began to read every article concerning the Charismatic
Movement on the FEA web site. I was convinced that what I was reading
was true and that the doctrine being taught by Calvary was false. I hit
my print button and made a few copies of the articles to give to the
elders and pastor of my fellowship. I was convinced they would see the
truth and major changes would take place in our church. I had found the
truth and wanted to set my friends free!
There was initial enthusiasm
from the elders and some of the members of the church on these issues,
but this was soon replaced with indifference and then a denial that this
was even an issue at all. It became painfully apparent to me that the
Calvary Chapel I attended was going to remain true to the cardinal
doctrines and philosophy of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. I was told that
the doctrines on spiritual gifts were "side issues" and that
these issues should not divide the body. I was not completely surprised
by this reaction. Calvary has a built-in philosophy for compromise and
toleration of questionable doctrines. Notice once again what Larry
Taylor writes:
When we move away from the essential doctrines to those that are
less essential we risk setting barriers up in the church, something we
at Calvary Chapel have no desire to do. Still, Calvary Chapel is
distinct from denominational churches and other Protestant groups and
people want to know what those distinctions are. That is the purpose
of this little booklet. 1
With a philosophy this
open to interpretation, I was not shocked when I was told that the
church had enough room for different points of view on the gifts issue.
I found that even within our small fellowship we had the full gamut of
beliefs among those attending. Members of the fellowship who knew or had
doubts about Charismatic teachings kept silent for the sake of unity in
the body. But the Scriptures do not teach that any portion of the Word
of God contains doctrines that are "less essential." Our Lord
and Savior left no room for doubt on this subject: "It is written,
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. 4:4).
I had no choice but to leave
the fellowship. My firm stand had begun to put up a barrier between
myself and other church leaders. With the full support of my wife, I
stepped down as head deacon and left the church. It has been well over a
year since I left. I have no bitterness or doubts about my decision. I
have grown closer than ever to my wife and family. We are in the first
stages of forming a Bible-believing, Fundamentalist church in our area.
We trust God and know He will guide us and provide for all our spiritual
needs. I urge everyone who is going through a similar experience to wait
on the Lord and be strong.
When my family and I left
Calvary, I knew it meant that I would lose friends and the social life
that came with their friendship. In that respect, it was painful to
leave. As individuals, we all have a decision to make. We can stand by
what God's Word teaches and please Him, or we can choose to please men
(which, in reality, means pleasing ourselves) through compromise and
silence. We need to hold each other up in prayer. We cannot and must not
give in to bad doctrine for the sake of unity and friendship. The
apostle Paul gives us the example to follow in Galatians 1:10 "For
do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet
pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
1
http://calvarychapel.com/library/taylor-larry/text/wcct.htm
2 http://calvarychapel.com/ashland/hspirit.html
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