Pentecostalism began with a move of God – a revival. This happened on a Jewish Festival called the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1). This was when the Holy Spirit was given and poured out, resulting in believers who were baptised in the Spirit and spoke in languages they had not learned – called speaking in tongues (Acts 2:4), and thousands of people being converted to Christ as believers. Therefore, the birth of the Church described in the early chapters of Acts began as a Pentecostal Church. This church promoted the authority of God’s Word; the need to repent and to be born-again as a convert to Christ; for believers to be filled/baptised in the Holy Spirit; and, being empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a godly and fruitful life. Added to this, the original Church described in Acts was courageously evangelistic. Every move of God (a ‘revival’) has summoned the church of that day to return to this original agenda. But with every revival there is not just blessings that result, there are also extremes that lead people into error. Today there are 279 million Pentecostal Christians around the world.
The lesson of Church history also shows that with every move of God there are indeed both blessings and extremes. We see evidence of this as early as the writing of the epistle to the Corinthians after there was a move of God that had resulted in a large church being planted. Many of the converts had been baptised in the Holy Spirit – but some extremes had then crept in. A few concerned Corinthians had written to the apostle Paul asking him to address their concerns. There were believers speaking in tongues during the service, one after another after another for a major part of their service – and doing so simply to elevate themselves and belittle those who were not yet baptised in the Spirit. The result was that Paul brought order to chaos in the Corinthian church by correcting their unbalanced use of spiritual gifts in their services (1 Cor. 14:40).
We also see blessing and extremes in modern revivals as well. One of the greatest global revivals, occurred near the turn of the twentieth century and has been described as a modern day Pentecost. As with the very earliest outpouring of the Spirit in the first century, this twentieth century revival has unfolded also with extremes which have arisen and integrated into modern Pentecostalism.
The Blessings of Revivals: A fresh understanding of Scripture
In 1898 all around the world it seems that God was challenging certain Christian leaders to look more closely at His Word. Revival outbreaks began in South Africa, the United Kingdom (particularly England and Wales), the United States (particularly Topeka Kansas), and Australia (particularly Good News Hall, Sunshine). These leaders recognised that despite being taught that the Bible said the gifts of the Spirit referred to in First Corinthians had ended in the first century – the Bible did not actually teach that at all. Leaders, such as Charles F. Parham, William J. Seymour, and C. L. Greenwood, began to preach and teach other believers what they had discovered and experienced. Thousands upon thousands of people around the turn of the century experienced what they described as the baptism in the Holy Spirit where they “spoke in tongues” as described in First Corinthians chapters 12 and 14.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. / For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, / to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, / to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. / All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills.
First Corinthians 12:7-11
For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. / On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. / The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. / Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up.
First Corinthians 14:2-5
What led to these leaders ushering in this outpouring was the realisation that there ancient principles for correctly interpreting God’s Word. This is referreed to as ‘hermeneutics’. These principles included:
- Read the Bible in Books not bits to draw out what it really taught (this is called the principle of exegesis rather than eisegesis),
- Let Scripture interpret Scripture (this is called the principle of the plain to interpret the obscure),
- Never interpret a verse of Scripture in a way that it contradicts the overall message of Scripture (this is called the principle of context).
This is why Pentecostals quickly saw the need to develop Bible Schools – not simply to teach a ‘Pentecostal’ perspective on Scripture – but simply to teach what the Scriptures actually taught! This was a foundational pillar for the Pentecostal revival.
The Extremes of Revivals: A distortion of the Scriptures
An ‘extreme’ emphasis is often just a good thing out of balance. Consider the air we breath. It is the perfect balance of various gases: 78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and small amounts of other gases. What might happen if the rate of nitrogen or oxygen went up or down by just 1%? One percent either way may not seem like a big deal, but the effects would result in death for plants, sea-life, animals, and ultimately humans – even though the change may not be immediately perceptible until it is too late.
Truth is a good thing. But even an over-emphasis on a truth can cause an imbalance that can be destructive. Strong leadership is a good thing but when it is out of balance it can cause great harm. This is why moves of God (revivals) are both a wonderful opportunity for renewal and conversions but are also a cause of great danger if a truth is taken out of balance. Consider the Chinese characters for “crisis opportunity”. What the Chinese recognise as a crisis is also a moment for opportunity.
What happens when a revival truth even in God’s Word is taken out of balance?
Consider the following:
Abuses of charismatic leadership. Nearly every revival leads to the rise of highly charismatic leaders who have a magnetic personality and spiritual giftedness. But it also often leads to them promoting an over-emphasis of some Scriptural truth. This leads to a ‘novel’ teaching where ‘novel’ means “a new, not obvious, never before heard idea.” Examples of this kind of novel teaching includes:
(i) What the Bible means by ‘prophecy’. Prophecy in the Bible is either forth-telling what God has already said; or, fore-telling what God is saying He is going to do. Human nature is drawn to the person who claims that they can fore-tell the future. This has often led some charismatic leaders to claim that they are fore-telling future events as if they and God were in joint-partnership to ‘declare’ the future. They will often take out of context Romans 4:17 to justify their ‘authority’ to fore-tell:
As it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
Romans 4:17
The claim is that since God can “call into existence the things that do not exist” – then Spirit-filled believers can ‘prophetically’ do so too! But this claim to have prophetic fore-telling authority is a misrepresentation of the context that it is God alone who can do this, not us. This idea of ‘prophetic authority’ to ‘declare’ what must happen became an embarrassing practice in the 1950s when these ‘prophetic’ teachers misused Isaiah 45:11 where they claimed that God was instructing His prophets: “you command Me.”
Thus says the LORD,
The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:
“Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons;
And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me.
Isaiah 45:11 NKJV
But the context was not God instructing anyone to “command” Him, but, to paraphrase, actually saying, “How dare you! How dare you command Me!” It is not an instruction or even a permission – it was a rebuke!
The church today should be prophetic. The New Testament Scriptures commands us not to despise prophecy (1 Thess. 5:20). But this must be done in the light of the next verse, First Thessalonians 5:21, which says, “but test everything; hold fast what is good.” Most of our prophetic declarations should be on the basis of God’s already established Word, which is readily available to test any prophecy with. In fact, in this light, most of our preaching should be forth-telling prophecy because the primary role of a preacher is to declare God’s established Word.
The danger for a charismatic Christian leader is that he or she begins to label everything they say as a word directly from God to him or her. Even the original apostles met in Jerusalem to discuss their differences and what they each claimed was from God (Acts 15).
¶ But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” / And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. / So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers. / When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. / But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” / ¶ The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.
Acts 15:1-6
Interestingly, their conclusion, announced by James (the brother of Jesus), was based on what God had already said in His Word (Acts 15:15-18) which prophesied that God would one day bring Gentiles (non-Jews) into His Kingdom:
And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, /
¶ “‘After this I will return,
and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;
I will rebuild its ruins,
and I will restore it, / that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord,
and all the Gentiles who are called by My Name,
says the Lord, who makes these things / known from of old.’
Acts 15:15-18
When their letter was written to be sent to the churches it commenced with, “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (‘us’ not ‘me’).
Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, / it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, / men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 15:24-26
(ii) What the Bible teaches about miracles and healing. By definition, ‘miracles’ are extraordinary acts of God. They do not operate on ‘laws’ or by following a ‘formula’. This would be to operate “by the flesh” Paul says to the Galatians (Gal. 3:3). The apostle Paul’s question to the Galatians, “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?” (Gal. 3:2). Miracles and any gift from God is an act of the Lord’s grace. Even the apostle Paul who presumably had the ministry of miracles (Acts 19:11) was denied relief by God from his “thorn in the flesh” (which many scholars believe was his failing eyesight, refer to 2 Cor. 12:7-10).
It is simply not true that all believers can be “taught” to operate in the gift of miracles. Note well Paul’s rhetorical question to the Corinthians in which he has already made the answer: “No!”, plain to them:
Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
First Corinthians 12:29
We should pray for miracles and for people to be healed. We should do this with the faith that God can grant this miracle or healing. But we must always acknowledge it is God who is the Miracle Worker and the Healer and that the means by which God may answer our request may not by at the time we want it or in the way we want Him to do it.
(iii) What the Bible teaches about using our minds. It is surprising to me that despite Jesus commending the Scriptures for His followers to love the Lord your God with all your mind (Matt. 22:37) – that some revival leaders actually teach the opposite! Their encouragement to disobey the Scriptures comes disguised as statements like — “Don’t question me, just accept what I say”, “Don’t use your head, just use your heart”, “You’re ‘over-thinking’ the Bible, just accept it by faith.” This kind of attitude can even be produced in a church service by ‘mindlessly’ singing one line of a song over and over and over again. But God does not want His people to stop using their minds, or to empty their minds, or to be lulled into thoughtlessly singing a mantra. Consider what the New Testament teaches about the relationship of the believer’s mind to their devotion to Christ:
¶ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,
but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Romans 12:3
When I was a child, I spoke like a child,
I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man,
I gave up childish ways.
First Corinthians 13:11
¶ Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
First Corinthians 14:20
And one of my favourite verses about thinking like a Christian:
Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
Second Timothy 2:7
Why Pentecostals Must Be Discerning
Discernment is not just the ability to distinguish right from wrong. Discernment is the ability to distinguish right from nearly write. This can be difficult especially for Pentecostals because they are more open to the supernatural aspects of Christianity because of their embracing of the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives and churches. But this openness comes with vulnerabilities and dangers.
To avert the dangers of these vulnerabilities Pentecostals need to be discerning and biblically informed. There is nothing wrong necessarily with exciting music, sophisticated stage and auditorium lighting (enhanced by smoke-machines), high-tech multimedia presentations which even put the speaker up on a screen before the congregation as “larger than life” — but it is not what makes Pentecostals Pentecostal. Over the past few decades several concerning trends have infiltrated the Pentecostal churches that are deeply troubling. For example, one very popular Revivalist leader wrote a book called When Heaven Invades Earth in which he teaches that “Jesus did His miracles as a man in right relationship to God…not as God” (pg. 29), and on page 79, “He [Jesus] laid aside his divinity.” He goes on to explain that since Jesus did all of His miracles “as a man” – therefore, everything Jesus could do, we can do as well because we are filled with the Holy Spirit just as He was! This may sound biblical – especially when also considering Philippians 2:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who,
though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Philippians 2:5-7
But did Jesus empty Himself of His divinity as it seems to suggest in Philippians 2:7? The emptying of Christ described in Philippians 2 is known as the kenosis of Christ (from the Greek word for emptied is ekenosis). But this was not – and could not – be Christ emptying of His divinity. When the Church leaders met in Chalcedon in AD 451 to discuss how Christ could be both fully God and fully man, they coined a term: the hyper-static union of Christ to describe this mystery of Jesus being 100% God and 100% man. Their resolution:
…[Jesus] Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures; inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the Son, and only begotten, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ…
That is, when Jesus Christ became man, He emptied Himself of His glory (the kenosis) but at no point did He empty Himself of His deity. The reason this is critically important is because these revivalist preachers then conclude that if Jesus was just a man who was filled with the Holy Spirit and He could do extraordinary miracles – then so can we if we are believes who are filled with the Holy Spirit! This is the kind extreme false teachings that arise, as Pastor Phil Hills often says, “on the edges of revival”. I offer this as an example of the need for discernment among believers – especially Spirit-filled believers.
Perhaps you can now recognise some of the other extremes that I have alluded to in what I have offered. It is my hope that God will indeed once again pour out His Spirit on our nation and that there will be Australian Pentecostal church leaders who have learned from past mistakes and are able to shepherd a great and lasting harvest into Christ’s Kingdom as a result – and do so led by the Spirit in a godly and thoughtful way.
Your Pastor,
Andrew
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