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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 Pentecostal/Charismatic Movements
©FOUNDATION Magazine
May-June 2001
by George Houghton,
Th. D
Faith Baptist Theological
Seminary
I. THEIR DISTINCTIVE
While there are many beliefs held by Pentecostals and Charismatics,
the one which is held in common among them and which distinguishes them
from others is the belief that the supernatural spiritual gifts evident
in New Testament times ought to be practiced today, including tongues,
miracles, healings, and prophecy.
II THEIR HERITAGE
The modem Pentecostal/Charismatic Movements are of fairly recent
origin. While certain phenomena might have been observed occasionally in
the later 1800s, the movement itself did not begin until the early
1900s, with the first of three distinct waves.
A. The First Wave: Traditional/Classical Pentecostalism
1. Its History
The first wave began with the ministry of Wesleyan evangelist Charles
Parham and his Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas. He assigned his
students the study of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and asked whether
tongues-speaking ought to be evidence of this work of the Spirit. His
own conviction was that the two were associated, and he was strengthened
in his position when, in early 1901, one of his students spoke in
tongues.
W. J. Seymour, a black evangelist who studied under Parham in
Houston, Texas, was invited by a Nazarene lady to speak at her church in
Los Angeles. He accepted the invitation, but the church leaders did not
accept his Pentecostal emphasis and locked the church doors so that he
could not preach there. He and those who followed him moved to rented
quarters on Azusa Street, and from there, in 1906, the Azusa Street
Pentecostal Revival spread.
Because the Pentecostal message was not accepted by already-existing
groups, new independent Pentecostal churches and denominations sprang
up. In 1914 the Assemblies of God denomination was founded, and about
the same time what is known today as the United Pentecostal Church was
formed. Some of the more well-known Pentecostal leaders and evangelists
were A. A. Allen, Oral Roberts (in his early days), and Aimee Semple
McPherson.
2. Distinctive Views
Many of the early Pentecostals came from Holiness and Arminian
backgrounds that emphasized one's responsibility to turn from sin and
one's ability to choose to do what is right. They tended to hold to
traditional evangelical doctrine, although a significant number of them
denied the Trinity, emphasizing a "oneness" teaching of
Modalism in which God is sometimes seen as Father, sometimes as Son, and
sometimes as Holy Spirit.
The traditional Pentecostals often shared certain characteristics
with fundamentalists—belief in the inerrancy of Scriptures, the deity
of Christ, man's sinfulness, Christ's substitutionary death for our
salvation, a dispensational and premillennial outlook on future events,
and strict standards for holy and godly living—yet the two groups did
not work closely with each other. This separation was due, at least in
part, to differences over the issues of continuing revelation, the place
of emotionalism in church meetings, the doctrinal basis for victory in
one's Christian life, and the validity and significance of the so-called
supernatural sign gifts of the Spirit today. The Pentecostal conviction
that the outward sign of Holy Spirit baptism was speaking in tongues was
especially emphasized.
B. The Second Wave: The Charismatic Movement/ Neo-Pentecostalism
1. Its History
In the mid to late 1950s, clergy and laymen from a number of major
Protestant groups experienced a speaking-in-tongues phenomenon. Instead
of leaving their Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, or
Baptist denomination, they used the charismatic experiences as a means
of renewal for themselves personally, their local church, and their
denominational groups. The Full Gospel Businessman's Fellowship
International, begun in the early 1950s, served as a bridge between the
more traditional Pentecostalism of the first wave and those who would
become a part of the second wave, including pastors and lay people from
the mainline Protestant groups who were open to the Pentecostal
phenomenon. Key leaders among this neo-Pentecostalism have been Oral
Roberts (since the mid to late 1960s), Dennis and Rita Bennett, Pat
Boone, Pat Robertson, the editors of Christian Life magazine, and David
DuPlessis. The widely publicized ministries of Jim and Tammy Baker and
their PTL Club and Jimmy Swaggert—although all three were from more
traditional Pentecostal backgrounds—also greatly contributed to the
spread of the second wave.
By 1966, some Roman Catholics at Duquesne University (Pittsburgh) had
been reading John Sherrill's book, They Speak With Other Tongues, and
David Wilkerson's The Cross and the Switchblade. They were
impressed with the power and results seen in these charismatic reports,
and on January 20, 1967, a Roman Catholic theology professor at Duquesne
spoke in tongues. By March of that year the phenomenon had spread to
Roman Catholics at the University of Notre Dame and shortly thereafter
to Roman Catholics at the Newman Center, University of Michigan (Arm
Arbor). Kevin and Dorothy Ranaghan become spokespersons for the tongues
aspect of the second wave.
2. Distinctive Views
Leaders from the first wave of classical Pentecostalism came out of
backgrounds that involved basic traditional doctrines, and these
teachings were carried over into their new movement. Many of the clergy
who became a part of the second wave often had formal denominational
education which was more liturgical and accepting of higher critical
views of the Bible. This training would not have grounded them in the
fundamentals of the faith as evangelicals and fundamentalists understood
them. When these people accepted Charismatic views, they did not
necessarily repudiate all that they had been taught in their formal
ministerial training, nor did their lifestyle standards conform to those
of the older Pentecostalism. In fact, major denominational leaders who
were not attracted to Charismatic phenomena watched these
neo-Pentecostals very closely in their respective groups, to see how it
changed them attitudinally and doctrinally.
What they found generally was that the Charismatic experience made
these men more loyal to their denominational groups and traditions. The
major change was an emphasis upon devotional experience, described in
language borrowed from the more traditional Pentecostalism and
Evangelicalism.
C. The Third Wave: The Signs and Wonders Movement
1. Its History
In the early 1980s the Vineyard Christian Fellowship movement began
with the ministry of John Wimber in California. He believed that people
would become convinced of the genuineness of Christianity by seeing
miraculous signs and wonders from God more than by being convinced
doctrinally. He not only practiced this belief in the church he pastored,
but he also teamed up with missions professor Peter Wagner to teach and
encourage its practice in the Signs and Wonders class at Fuller
Seminary. Others who emphasized these signs and wonders included
Christian psychologist and speaker John White, former Dallas Seminary
professor Jack Deere, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School faculty
member Wayne Grudem. Support for this emphasis has also come from the
ministries of such recognized Christian leaders as John Piper.
2. Distinctive Views
The movement's supporters come from various evangelical backgrounds
and do not necessarily want to be identified with traditional
man-centered Pentecostal views. Some, in fact, have strong Calvinistic
convictions. But all stress the presence of genuine signs and wonders
from God today. Tongues-speaking is not emphasized as much as in the
more traditional Pentecostal groups, but healings and especially the
gift of prophecy are very prominent.
D. Other Contemporary Charismatic Emphases
Also present in more recent years are the ministries of several
others who have a strongly charismatic approach and emphasis. These
include those who emphasize a "health and wealth" gospel; the
ministries of charismatic teachers such as Benny Hinn, Kenneth Hagin,
and Kenneth Copeland; and the current ministries of Oral and Richard
Roberts, John Arnott and the Toronto Blessing, Paul Cain and the Kansas
City Prophets, and Rodney Howard-Browne and John Kilpatrick of the
Brownsville Assembly of God Church and the Pensacola Outpouring Revival.
SOME OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS
1. The teaching common to all of these groups, which states that
all of the gifts given by the Holy Spirit in New Testament times ought
to be observed and practiced by Christians today, is definitely
unbiblical. The supernatural sign gifts were intended by God for the
Apostolic Age and were designed to be temporary. It is not the purpose
of this paper to deal exhaustively with the Bible passages which support
this view, but if it is true, we should not be taken in by contemporary
experiential phenomena-no matter where they are found. The Bible must be
our standard.
2. What does the Bible really say about tongues-speaking? First,
there are not very many passages which actually mention it. Mark
16:17-18 lists some historical phenomena experienced by the early
Christians, which demonstrated the validity of their message. Acts 2
narrates the occurrence at Pentecost, Acts 10 describes the conversion
of the first Gentiles, and Acts 19 describes the conversion of the
disciples of John the Baptist. I Corinthians 12-14 presents Paul's
corrective message to a carnal church abusing spiritual gifts.
Second, other than the Corinthian passage, tongues-speaking does not
appear to have been a regular, ongoing occurrence.
Third, tongues-speaking in the Bible seems to have involved actual
languages. Acts 2 describes the phenomenon in the following language:
"Every man heard them speak in his own language (verse 6), and
"How hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and
in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia,
in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome,
Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our
tongues the wonderful works of God" (verses 8-11). When the
Gentiles in Acts 10 experience this phenomenon, Peter likens it to
precisely what had occurred at Pentecost (10:44-48). In I Corinthians,
Paul seeks to establish guidelines for the proper use of spiritual
gifts. When dealing with tongues speaking, he states that its purpose is
to be a sign (14:22), and he bases this statement upon an Old Testament
passage (Isaiah 28:11-12) where the Lord told the nation of Israel that
He would use "men of other tongues and other lips" (I
Corinthians 14:21) to "speak" to them-"yet for all that
will they not hear Me." This is a reference to God's disciplining
His people by means of the pagan Assyrians. As E. J. Young says in his
commentary on the book of Isaiah, "The thought then is that God
will speak to Judah by means of people who speak a language different
from that of the Jews" (Vol. 11, 277-78).
Fourth, tongues-speaking was designed to be a sign to the nation of
Israel that God is now accepting Gentiles who trust in Him (I
Corinthians 14:22). As such, tongues-speaking was only in operation
during the decades immediately following the Messiah's coming to earth.
Tongues-speaking certainly served this purpose when Jewish Christians
had to decide if the Gentile Cornelius and those with him would be
accepted by God (Acts 10:44-48).
Fifth, some spiritual gifts clearly were intended by God to be
temporary and not permanent. Apostleship, for example, is a part of the
foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:19-20), and an apostle had to be
one who had been an eye-witness to Christ's earthly ministry (Acts
1:21-22; 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:8-10). Some would even say that Paul was
God's replacement for Judas, and that the number of authentic apostles
is limited to twelve (see Revelation 21:14).
Sixth, I Corinthians 13:8-10 tells us that spiritual gifts related to
revelation would be temporary and would cease once completed revelation
had been given.
In light of the above-mentioned survey of Biblical evidence, we
believe that the New Testament spiritual gift of tongues-speaking was
intended by God to be temporary, operating in the foundational stage of
the church before the completed revelation of Scripture had been given.
Therefore, when someone asks how we explain the present-day phenomenon,
it seems to us that the burden of explanation rests with the
tongues-speaker. We may not always know what it is, but we do know what
it is not.
3. The so-called Charismatic phenomenon is an experience which
adapts to a wide spectrum of doctrinal views, including those of some of
the cults (The Shakers and Mormonism, for example), Roman Catholicism,
and others. This adaptability certainly ought to make those Charismatics
with more traditional evangelical convictions think twice before joining
others who differ widely with them regarding the teachings of God's
Word. Genuine Christian experience will always be consistent with what
God has told us in Scripture.
4. The Charismatic experience has been used by some to lead
people into the Ecumenical Movement. David DuPlessis has documented this
trend from its early stages in his book, The Spirit Bade Me Go. Ecumenical
cooperation has taken place on the local level as well as on the
national and international levels because of the Charismatic Renewal
Movement.
5. Some who support the tongues movement have said that speaking
in tongues is an experience which changes one's Christian life, giving
one the power to live victoriously. Yet this is neither the teaching of
the Bible nor the experience of believers in New Testament times when it
was observed within a local church context, namely in the Corinthian
church. Victorious living is possible because of Christ's death and
resurrection and is appropriated through yielding to God (Romans 6:1-13)—not
through a Charismatic experience. And the Corinthian church where
tongues speaking had been so evident was characterized by carnality (1
Corinthians 3:1-4).
Related to claims for the charismatic experience is the term
"full gospel," used by many who support it. How offensive this
is to the Bible believer who by genuine trust in Christ's death and
resurrection for the forgiveness of sins (1 Corinthians 15:1-11) has
heard the complete gospel! That wonderful message is not lacking because
no tongues-speaking has occurred. The great Bible passages on salvation
do not ever ask us to seek a tongues speaking experience (John 3:16-18,
36; 5:24; Romans 3:21-28; 5:l; Ephesians 2:8-9; etc.).
6. We recognize that seeking a Charismatic experience may be the
result of a genuine longing for spiritual reality on the part of some
very earnest people. This, of course, does not make it right, but it
does serve as a good reminder to us to make certain that what we teach,
how we live our lives, and how we express our love for Christ are
Biblically balanced. Sometimes a nearly exclusive emphasis upon
intellectual content which does not reach down into the reality of a
person's life may be the problem. What is the solution? The answer is
not found by joining the Tongues Movement nor by de-emphasizing sound
Bible doctrine. The answer is to present in our churches and in our own
personal lives and aggressive and vibrant Christianity that isn't afraid
to reach both head and heart-to show piety and tenderness, as well as
(not instead of) teaching doctrinal content from God's Word. And we
aren't really helping the charismatic person unless we can show him from
our lives and from the Scriptures that seeking an experience is not the
ultimate solution. The solution is found in understanding what God's
Word teaches, yielding to the Holy Spirit's control in our lives, and
living out the victory that is possible because of the death and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf.
[Reprinted with permission. Dr. George Houghton is the Vice
President for Academic Services and the Adjunct Professor of
Historical Theology at Faith
Baptist Theological Seminary in Ankeny, Iowa.]
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