In this Issue:
- Announcing the Pneuma Foundation Website
- Issues for Pentecostals
- Looking for Reviewers
- Update about the Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality
- Pneuma News
- Excerpts from the Summer 2000 issue of the Pneuma Review:
- From "That Glorious Day When Tongues are Not Needed: Until Then . . ." Part 2, from the Praying In the Spirit series by Robert Graves
- From the article "Touched by the Wind: The Charismatic Movement in the Episcopal Church" by D. William Faupel
- Book Review by Amos Yong: "Word and Spirit Together" by David Pawson.
- Prayer Requests & Praise Reports
Thanks to all the efforts of Dave Driggs and Raul Mock, the website has been designed to be able to grow in the future. Presently, you will
find past issues of the Pneuma Informer in archive, as well as
full-length articles from the Pneuma Review that you may download. We
will be adding more and more articles in the coming weeks.
One area to expand is our list of links. If you would like to have
your URL listed under our list of "Members and Friends," please E-mail
the URL along with your name, the name of the ministry, a brief purpose
statement of your ministry, and a brief comment about your support of the
Pneuma Foundation.
We really do value your input when it comes to making this outreach
valuable to you. Please let us know what you would like to see on our
on-line resource center. Would you like the downloadable articles
viewable on-line? How important would an on-line Pneuma Biblical
Resources catalog be to you? Should you be able to purchase a
subscription to the Pneuma Review with a credit card over a secured
server? Would links to on-line Biblical resources be valuable to you?
Write us with your comments and suggestions to webservant
Issues for Pentecostals
One of the friends of the Pneuma Foundation, Chin Do Kham of the Asia
Pacific Theological Seminary, has asked for input on the subject of
contemporary Pentecostal issues. He will be giving an address to the
World Assemblies of God Congress on this subject, and recognizes this to
be a significant event.
If you are interested in expressing your opinion, he is looking for 7
to 10 of your "top hits" which are either positive or negative—along
with an explanation of why you believe these to be significant issues for
Pentecostals today.
Even if you do not consider yourself a Pentecostal, consider responding to this opportunity by sending your top Pentecostal issues care of Editor who will forward them on to Dr. Kham.
The World Assemblies of God Congress will be meeting in Indianapolis
in early August.
To get you started, some of the editors at the Pneuma Foundation have
been discussing a strength of the Pentecostal/charismatic movement that
has also tended to be a great weakness. While Pentecostal/charismatics
have been instruments for bringing the supernatural ministry and gifts of
the Spirit back to the church, they have tended to ignore other areas of
doctrine and teaching at times. We think God desires us to be moving and
growing in all aspects of the Christian life, not just "power" ministry.
When believers are well-rounded in their knowledge of God's Word, they
also do not tend to be carried away by the latest trends or "fads" in the
Church at large.
Another area of discussion for many of us who are former classical
Pentecostals (in other words, those of us who are now more "charismatic"
than "Pentecostal") has been recognizing the abundance of the grace of
God and the finished work of Christ. Do we really need to get right with
God at every Church service we attend, or does God want us to rest in
what Jesus has already finished? As you can imagine, there are some
interesting discussions on this vast subject because it touches on things
like the responsibility of man, the sovereignty of God, and the position
of the believer before God. As you have probably already gathered, the
editors are a diverse group with classical Pentecostals and
never-have-been-Pentecostals, so we will not likely be in full agreement
on this until we see Jesus face to face. Usually, our discussion has been
rewarding on this subject.
What about you? Your comments and discussion are welcome. We hope to
be able to put together an ongoing discussion on these lines in future
issues of the Pneuma Informer. Send us your comments and suggestions.
Looking for Reviewers
Mike Dies, the Book and Periodical Review Editor for the Pneuma
Review, is looking for pastors, ministry leaders, and educational
professionals to assist with reviewing books and periodical articles for
the Pneuma Review. The editor's library is growing regularly as
publishers are sending new releases and recent publications for our
review. Please consider this opportunity to become involved in the
ministry of the Pneuma Foundation—growing in your own journey as you are
helping others sift through the countless resources available today.
For an informal E-mail interview, write to Mike Dies by way of the
Pneuma Review editor
Update about the Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality
With all of the response received from Pneuma Informer readers about the
Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, we have enclosed a recent press
release from Mastering Life Ministries.
From Mastering Life Ministries–Saturday, July 8, 2000
We now have approximately 400 signatories to our Religious Declaration on
Sexual Morality . . . . .
. . . . with the help of the Evangelical Alliance leader (Colin Wilson),
our project has just been promoted throughout the United Kingdom in a
British newspaper called the English Churchman . . . . .
. . . . it is scheduled to be promoted in the next issue of Ministries
Today magazine (in the "Ministry Matters" section) . . . .
. . . . it is currently being promoted in Impact–Dr. D. James Kennedy's
monthly newsletter for his Center for Reclaiming America . . . .
. . . . . and as you may already know, the list of signatories to our
document includes such leaders as Dr. Bill Bright, Dr. John R.W. Stott,
and just yesterday, a ringing endorsement from Dr. J.I. Packer!
You can view the document and list of signatories at:
http://www.gospelcom.net/mlm/declaration/index.htm
Rev. David Kyle Foster
Pneuma News
- The Summer 2000 issue of the Pneuma Review has been completed. If you
have received the last Pneuma Informer, you know that the Executive
Committee was encountering a number of delays and technical setbacks in
order to print this issue. Domestic subscribers (in the United States)
should have received their issues by Saturday, July 15.
Excerpts from the Summer 2000 issue (Vol 3, No 3) of the Pneuma Review
From the article "That Glorious Day When Tongues are Not Needed: Until Then . . ." Part 2 of 2. From the Praying in the Spirit series by Robert Graves.
. . .
The Absence of Tongues in Church History
The absence of tongues in the writings of those following the apostles is
another argument that purports to prove that tongues ceased with the
Apostolic Age. Cessationist George Dollar chides Pentecostals and
charismatics for not referring "to the grand stream of church history
from apostolic times until our present day for proof of God's plan to
perpetuate" a continuously charismatic Church (p. 316). He concludes that
"the voice of church history . . . is against the modern tongues movement
. . " (p. 321). More recently, MacArthur asserts dogmatically, "History
records that tongues did cease. . . . Clement of Rome [c. AD 96], Justin
Martyr [165], Origen [254], Chrysostom [430]—some of the greatest
theologians of the ancient church—considered tongues a remote practice,
something that happened in the very early days of Christianity" (p.169).
Cessationist Hoekema, who also believes that tongues ceased with the
Apostolic Age, addresses the Pentecostal-charismatic response that God
has restored the gifts in these the latter days. He asks why these gifts,
if they were essential, disappeared and why God would withhold the gifts
for 1500 years (Baptism, 65). "Did God deliberately impoverish his
people?" (What, p.113).
The cessationist argument here, as in the previous argument, is based on
silence: Tongues must have ceased since the post-apostolic writers do not
mention them as currently in operation. The Pentecostal pioneers of the
turn of the century seemed to have accepted the cessationist assumption
that post-apostolic writers indeed do not mention tongues, for they
claimed that the prophet Joel's latter rain (Joel 2:23, 28; Acts 2:
l6-2l, KJV) had fallen in the twentieth century. Current research,
however, supports the view that the prophetic and so-called "sign" gifts
did indeed operate in the post-apostolic period.
The cessationist argument here reminds me of the tactic deployed by
American tobacco companies: no matter what the evidence indicates, deny,
deny, deny that there is any link between cigarette smoking and health
problems. Warfield denied it, Rogers denies it, Dollar denies it,
MacArthur, Gromacki, Hoekema, and others deny that certain gifts of the
Holy Spirit were to be in the Church until Christ comes. The saddest
effect of this teaching is its incubation of doubt and disbelief. Not
that we should be credulous, mind you, certain fantastic stories of the
post-apostolic writers are indeed beyond belief.
. . .
There is now no justification for denying that the gifts of healings,
miracles, tongues, interpretation, and prophecy survived the twelve
Apostles or their disciples. The post-apostolic church prior to AD 200
was indeed charismatic (Kydd, p.87). And the only two post-apostolic
writers who are quoted by the cessationists for their explicit statements
that tongues had ceased are John Chrysostom (AD 407) and Augustine (AD
430). Even here the statements of these two may suggest that they were
trying to quench current practices that they disagreed with (Carroll,
p.84; Burgess, p.126), somewhat like cessationists are doing today. (It
should be noted, however, that Augustine does testify to healings and
miracles in his time (Burgess, pp. l90-l92)).
Although early church writings are chock-full of references and allusions
to the supernatural, including the controversial charismata, by the
middle of the third century these gifts (or the recording of them) did
begin to wane. Hunter writes that the medieval period, beginning in the
fifth century and lasting into the fifteenth, yields the least evidence
of tongues-speaking. On the basis of his research, however, he concludes
that "there may not be a century without tongues-speech appearing
somewhere among Christians" (JETS, p. 135).
Cessationist Hoekema implies that the Pentecostal doctrine of charismatic
continuity through the centuries maligns God since God is to be blamed
for allowing the gifts to practically die out. I believe the fallacy of
this argument is apparent when we extend its logic to salvation by
grace-that is, God is to blame for allowing the doctrine of salvation by
grace to diminish because of teachings of the medieval church. If God is
to blame, it is only in the sense that His instrument in this world-the
Body of Christ-did not appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit
continuously through the ages. God did not impoverish His people; they
impoverished themselves!
Finally, it should be acknowledged that this cessationist argument is not
based on Scripture, nor is it based on doctrinal teachings. It seems to
be based upon supposed experience, or even worse, the assumed absence of
records of the experience in post-apostolic literature. The
anti-charismatic writings of Chrysostom and Augustine, which are widely
quoted, are based on those men's beliefs or opinions; they offer no
scriptural support of the cessation of the gifts of the Spirit. It should
be remembered that the writings of the early Church fathers have no more
or less authority than any book written today.
A day is coming when prophecies, words of knowledge, and tongues shall
cease. When that day arrives, no one will be rejoicing more ecstatically
than the charismatics. But until then. . .
From the article "Touched by the Wind: The Charismatic Movement in the
Episcopal Church" by D. William Faupel
Part III
Many Anglicans have often compared the charismatic movement to the
renewal movement started by John Wesley in the eighteenth century. They
note, with some justification, that the failure of the Church of England
to embrace this revival cost it dearly, and that this must not happen
again. While there is much insight to be gained from such a comparison
there were many differences as well. Most notably, the social location of
the Wesleyan revival was primarily among the poor and working classes,
quite a different phenomenon from that of the current charismatic
renewal. A more analogous comparison is the child of the Wesleyan
revival, the holiness movement of the nineteenth century.
This renewal movement emerged within American Methodism as an
identifiable force following the Second Awakening when the former accused
the latter of neglecting to promote Wesley's crowning doctrine of
Christian Perfection. The doctrine taught that one's sinful nature was
transformed by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, an experience subsequent
to conversion. For more than thirty years, from the 1840's to the 1870's
American religion was transformed by the penetration of holiness teaching
across the whole spectrum of Protestant denominations. The initial
impulse began in 1835 when two sisters, Sarah Lankford and Phoebe Palmer,
moved the weekly series of Bible studies they had been conducting at two
New York City Methodist churches to their home. The "Tuesday Meeting for
the Promotion of Holiness" would continue regularly until 1896.
Adopting the structure of the Wesleyan class meeting, the sessions
consisted of Bible study, testimony and prayer. The meeting drew people
of all denominations from far and near. Laity and clergy alike came to
sit at Phoebe's feet. Within a few years, similar meetings were
established along the eastern seaboard. By 1886, at least 238 such groups
were meeting throughout North America and Western Europe. Recognizing the
need for a journal to promote the doctrine and to tie the scattered
groups together, Sarah persuaded Timothy Merritt to begin the publication
of The Guide to Christian Perfection in 1839. It would continue as an
influential voice for the Movement until 1902.[17]
The 1857-58 revival, coming in the midst of the movement's ascendancy,
played a pivotal role. The revival began in Hamilton, Ontario, where
Palmer was conducting special meetings. It spread quickly throughout
North America, making its primary impact on the urban centers. Wherever
it appeared, the revival broke out in seemingly spontaneous prayer
meetings, catching many clergy totally by surprise. Arising from below,
even the leadership of this "visitation" was drawn primarily from the
laity. Like Palmer's Tuesday Meeting, these union sessions of prayer
totally transcended denominational sectarianism:
Arminians and Calvinists, Baptists and Pedo-Baptists, Episcopalians and
Presbyterians, Congregationalists and Friends, sat side by side on the
same benches, sang the same hymns, and Amen to the same prayers. In this
Pentecost as at the first, what became evident to the followers of Jesus,
were not the things in which they differed but those upon which they
agreed.[18]
Holiness teaching marked the meetings. Even those who could not accept
the two-fold Wesleyan scheme, none-the-less adopted the view that true
conversion freed the Christian from the power of sin. Multitudes became
convinced that justification in the eyes of God must be evidenced by
sanctification in their own subsequent experience.
Two books published during the revival assisted in sharpening this
doctrinal focus. William Arthur, an Irish Methodist, published The Tongue
of Fire[19] in 1856. The book filled with perfectionist themes set the tone
for the revival. The second, The Higher Christian Life,[20] written by
William Boardman, made its appearance in 1858. Boardman, a Presbyterian,
sought to present the holiness doctrine in non-Wesleyan language. The
book swept more non-Methodist circles into the Holiness Movement than any
other single force that preceded it.[21]
Though this revival had a worldwide impact, it did not result in the
establishment of the millennium on earth as many had anticipated. Indeed,
in the United States, the Civil War followed on its heels. Ultimately, it
would split the movement in half. Many, such as Methodist Bishop Jesse
Peck, saw the war as a judgment from God for the national sin of slavery.
With that scourge removed, the perfectionist message could be pressed
forward, Christian unity achieved and the Kingdom of God established.
These leaders joined forces with other renewalist impulses to forge the
Social Gospel.[22]
The war and the subsequent effects of rapid urbanization and
industrialization caused others to be more pessimistic about the future
of the world. These abandoned a postmillennial eschatology-that saw a
renewed united church ushering in the kingdom of God on earth-in favor a
premillennial eschatology. They saw their task as a faithful remnant
warning of further judgment. The appeal for renewal and unity of the
church was replaced by a call to leave denominational structures in order
to form a true restored New Testament Church.[23]
Thousands heeded this call. Regional, state, and local associations were
formed to assure that converts were nurtured in the pure holiness
understanding of the faith. The restoration of the true church was
proclaimed. In local communities, advocates were organized into
"bands"-at first prayer groups that were similar to the Tuesday Meeting
but which later became more active, engaging in street evangelism and
inner city mission work. A proliferation of regional and statewide
periodicals came into existence to tie these groups together. By the end
of the century they had taken on the structures which formed the Holiness
denominations. Following the Azusa Street revival, the more radical
groups became Pentecostal.[24]
David Pawson, Word and Spirit Together: Uniting Charismatics and Evangelicals (London, Sydney, Auckland: Hodder and Stoughton, 1998), 159 pages.
Originally published as The Fourth Wave in 1993, the second edition of
this volume features a new title that captures the importance of holding
together the mutual emphases of Word and Spirit against the backdrop of
what has since also come to be known as the "fourth wave" -- the "mixed
blessing" of the Toronto revival. The author, a widely recognized
theologian in British evangelical and charismatic circles, argues for the
importance of dialogue between these two movements, especially given the
charismatic emphases on experiencing the gift of the Spirit as well as
moving in the spiritual gifts, and the evangelical commitment to the
apostolic gospel and to proclaiming it. Part I of this book develops
these as characteristic features of both movements, and explores possible
reasons why evangelicals have not, generally speaking, embraced the
charismatic renewal -- given the Reformers' rejection of the radical
Anabaptist movement, the Puritan emphasis on preaching, and the
orientation of dispensational theology toward understanding the
charismata within a cessationist framework -- and how evangelical attitudes
toward those in the charismatic movement have progressed from suspicion,
toleration, and coalition toward the possibility, finally in our time, of
meaningful integration.
Pawson does his theological criticism and synthesis in Part II where he
attempts to resolve, in successive chapters, differences in views of
theology, prophecy, initiation, tongues, worship and holiness. His method
is to explore what evangelicals and charismatics can contribute to each
other, and how a critical correlation between emphases on both sides
yields a richer overall understanding of the subject under consideration.
Theologically, for example, Pawson suggests that evangelicals have much
to learn about the dynamic and experiential elements of theology from
charismatics, even while the latter need the sola scriptura commitments
of the former. Prophecy is not to be equated with Scripture (as
evangelicals have long insisted against charismatics), even while the
prophetic and apostolic offices and functions of the Church are not to be
relegated to the early Christian period nor considered to be abnormal
today (as charismatics have responded). On the controversial issue of
Christian initiation (to which Pawson has elsewhere devoted an entire
volume), evangelicals are right to reject the traditional Pentecostal
doctrine of Spirit-baptism as subsequent to salvation; on the other hand,
Pawson insists that Pentecostals and charismatics are right to
distinguish merely believing in the Spirit from receiving the Spirit in
that the latter has discernible effects regarding the believer's
empowerment for ministry. Tongues, Pawson suggests, is neither everything
(as charismatics have at times excessively claimed), nor nothing (as
evangelicals have sometimes retorted). Worship needs to be both
spontaneous, affective, and charismatic and liturgically ordered and
cognitive. Finally, Christian life in the Spirit means that the spiritual
gifts should not be confused with the fruits of the Spirit, even while
those who exhibit the fruits of the Spirit should aspire to be used by
God through the charismatic gifts.
This is an important book for Anglo-American evangelicals, Pentecostals
and charismatics. One of the questions that it should lead us to ask is
whether or not the peculiar forms of these movements in the Western world
exhaust the meanings of "evangelical" or "charismatic." I hazard to guess
that they do not. If not, then, this might mean that as evangelicals and
charismatics wrestle with what it means to unite Word and Spirit in a
global context, we need to be alert to the power of the Word and the
surprises of the Spirit to redefine our preconceived ideas both about
what God is doing in the world, and about what we should be doing as
well.
Reviewed by Amos Yong
Prayer Requests
- Please pray for the efforts of Raul Mock and the editorial committee as
they prepare the Fall 2000 issue of the Pneuma Review. Because of the
delays caused by the printing of the Summer 2000 issue, they have much
"catch up" to do in order to see the Fall issue done timely. Please pray
also that this next issue further helps to meet the need for Biblically
balanced teaching and ministry resources among the Pneuma Review's
ministry leader readership.
- Please pray for the Pneuma Foundation to receive the funds it needs to
begin regular mailings to its members and those who would be interested
in receiving information about Pneuma Foundation ministry efforts.
Praise Reports
- The Summer 2000 issue of the Pneuma Review is now finished. Thank you
for praying with us about this project. Although this printing took
longer than expected, in the process many new ministry friendships were
formed and publishing tools were acquired.
- Join with us in celebrating the Lord's provision. One of the software
tools required to speed the production of the Pneuma Review and other
Pneuma Foundation publications is PageMaker 6.5. This will allow us to
use offset printing facilities with less man-hour effort. The retail
price for this application is between $450-$600, however someone has sold
a full unregistered package to the Pneuma Foundation for only $50.
- Please send us your prayer requests and praise reports. We have a great
God who always meets our needs.
- If you would like more information about how you may help in meeting
these needs, please E-mail Member Services.