The Original Pentecostal Movement

[zone]

Talking Pentecostalism

Gifts of the Holy Spirit: What Pentecostals believe



Pentecostalism began with a belief that in its origin God was restoring New Testament Christianity by bringing a discovery and recovery of the ‘sign’ gifts to the Church, including tongues, interpretation, miracles, healing and prophecy.

In the nineteenth-century those in the Holiness movement assumed that speaking in tongues had ended with the close of the Early Church period but that the other gifts such as healing and miracles should still be available to Christians. However by the turn of the nineteenth-century a widespread desire for the gift of tongues had also emerged. This was coupled with the already existent desire for a restoration of the ‘full gospel’ [1] involving Spirit-baptism as a post-conversion experience of empowerment that enabled the exercise of these sign gifts.

The Holiness movement revivals that occurred at the beginning of the twentieth-century that gave birth to Pentecostalism involved miracles, healing, tongues-speaking, prophecy and discernment gifts. The expectancy of a restoration of the miraculous gifts to the Church as a mark of the end of the Church age lead early Pentecostals to interpreted these events surrounding their origin as this end-time restoration of the ‘Apostolic faith’ in preparation for Christ's return.

Pentecostal churches today continue to place central importance on miraculous and prophetic gifts in the life of the church. All spiritual gifts of the New Testament period are expected to be in use within healthy churches as God’s provision for his body. Such spiritual gifts are seen as an essential part of God’s working within his Church. They are not only to be desired but actively sought.

Talking Pentecostalism: Gifts of the Holy Spirit: What Pentecostals believe

t.y. sarah....
i had to take a break before Finney....< sigh
restarting there tomorrow, Lord willing.

love ya

 

[SarahM777]

t.y. sarah....
i had to take a break before Finney.
restarting there tomorrow, Lord willing.

arg.
love ya

The more the history comes out the more of a mess it seems.

Love you sis. Get some rest.

And yet some would say we are not to speak out about it.

 

[The_highwayman]

Titus 1
10 For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group.11 They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain.12 One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”[14 and will pay no attention to Jewish myths or to the merely human commandsof those who c]13 This saying is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, so that they will be sound in the faithreject the truth.15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

Matthew 3

3 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”[a]

4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 23


13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. [14] [b]
15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. 22 And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God’s throne and by the one who sits on it.
23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
29 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!
33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.

37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you,how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 38 Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’[c]”

Seems to me that my Bible says that the prophets and Jesus were not very kind and gentle and said NOTHING to false prophets.

Seems to me also there is nothing more for us to discuss.

Acts 5.34-42:
[SUP]34 [/SUP]Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space;

[SUP]35 [/SUP]And said unto them, Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what ye intend to do as touching these men.
[SUP]36 [/SUP]For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought.
[SUP]37 [/SUP]After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.
[SUP]38 [/SUP]And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
[SUP]39 [/SUP]But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
[SUP]40 [/SUP]And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
[SUP]41 [/SUP]And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
[SUP]42 [/SUP]And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.




Read vs 38-39 and let a new revelation open your eyes.

To gain proper context you should read Acts chapters 1-4. Here is a brief overview of this passage.
Peter and John had did some pretty radical charismatic/pentecostal stuff to some folks.....You know getting them saved, baptized and added into the church....Peter also healed a man at the Temple Gate called beautiful, and the Pharisees and High priest had them arrested and beaten.

The day of Pentecost caused the current religious institution some serious anxiety. Because of all things since the Holy Ghost was given on Pentecost, the religious leaders which crucified Jesus sought to end this by ki8lling Peter, John and imprisoning the others.

But a very wise man of the law named Gamaliel, who taught Saul, challenged the religious leaders and said, you know what, we have seen false teachers and prophets come and they did not adhere to our way of thinking or the law, or the Pentateuch, and we watched them create movements and they never amounted to anything. So lets do this, leave Peter and John and all those upper room zealots and false teachers be, for if it is not OF GOD it will die out, but if it is OF GOD, then you will not stop it and will be fighting GOD.

What is the very basic biblical principal to this?

 

[zone]

Talking Pentecostalism

[h=3]Revivalism and Power (Part I): Finney and Pentecostalism[/h]
Describing the power of God during revival, Charles Finney wrote:

“This power is a great marvel. I have many times seen people unable to endure the Word. The most simple and ordinary statement would cut men off from their seats like a sword, take away their bodily strength, and render them almost as helpless as dead men. Several times it has been true in my experience that I could not raise my voice, or say anything in prayer or exhortation except in the mildest manner, without wholly overcoming those who were present. This was not because I was preaching terror to the people, but the sweetest sounds of the Gospel would overcome them.

This power seems sometimes to pervade the atmosphere of one who is highly charged with it. Many times great numbers of people in a community are clothed with this power when the very atmosphere of the whole place seems to be charged with the life of God. Strangers coming into it and passing through the place are instantly struck with conviction of sin and, in many instances, converted to Christ.” (Finney, p. 19-20)

is he saying passing through a charged "atmosphere; struck with conviction of sin and, in many instances, converted to Christ" without hearing anything preached?

The ‘power’ – the mysterious and surprising power of God – had never before had such a vital role to play in bringing revival. The Great Awakenings, particularly the second wave of revivals that gave birth to the Methodists, had its strong focus on holiness. It in turn gave birth to the Holiness movement when Wesley’s Methodism spread to America.

wesley...k.

But then Charles Finney emerged within the American movement, affecting a deep shift in emphasis, significantly changing the focus of the movement from sanctification to empowerment. The Holiness movement became the Power movement and revivalism changed its focus. Finney’s revivalism was a quest for power, and it found fertile soil in the landscape of American idealism at the turn of the nineteenth-century, and in turn found a permanent place in what is now the biggest and still fastest growing movement in the world: Pentecostalism, the power-revival movement still feeling the affect of Finney’s legacy and continuing to dramatically shape 21[SUP]st[/SUP] century Evangelicalism.

hmmm....power.
but we know about the burned-over districts and false conversions and stuff.

(going to need a Pineapple Smoothie before going in to Finney's doctrines)

Enter Pentecostal revivalism
Reading Charles Finney as a Hillsong College student in 1997 had a deep impact upon my changing spirituality. I had left for the Sydney leadership college after year 12 to begin a decidedly indefinite period of preparation for what I planned would be a lifelong ministry as an evangelist and church planter. The entire endeavour would amount to a brief excursion of a little less than one full calendar year, but the effect of that 12 months is still being felt in my life today, well over a decade later.

As an evangelical ‘charismatic’, much more than an old-school Pentecostal,Power from on High changed not only the way I evangelised people, but also the way I prayed. The book’s blurb summarises Finney’s approach to revivalism well:

“Is it possible to lead sinners to the Lord with one look or a single sentence? Charles Finney did. He knew the secret of winning souls to Christ—an outpouring of power from heaven. In this book, he gives remarkable stories of dramatic conversions, along with instructions on how to receive power from God, overcome sin, and prevail in prayer.”

(making mental note there.)

Is it possible to lead sinners to the Lord with one look?

Without realising the significant of my choice for a Sydney AOG college, I had walked into a distinctively Pentecostal culture. I myself had converted to a Pentecostal doctrinal system years earlier, but existed in a mainline Brethren church that had turned Charismatic. At home I was considered ‘full on’ for simply holding to the notions of divine healing and tongues as compulsory evidence of Spirit baptism.

alrighty.

But here, these were but mere elemental truths. This was a place where Kenneth Copeland was in the curriculum, Prosperity preaching was a significant element of every church service, and Charles Finney was recommended reading from the library book list. And any serious student sought him out first.

oh train-of-pain.

Although I was already a very passionate and active evangelist, I had only led a handful of people to Christ. But now, Power from on High gave me not only answers on how I could be more effective, but also the guarantee of success: If I fulfilled the conditions described by Finney, I would succeed in winning more souls.

Talking Pentecostalism: Revivalism and Power (Part I): Finney and Pentecostalism

Cont

right - methods.
pragmatism.
proto-purpose driven

 

[SarahM777]

is he saying passing through a charged "atmosphere; struck with conviction of sin and, in many instances, converted to Christ" without hearing anything preached?



wesley...k.



hmmm....power.
but we know about the burned-over districts and false conversions and stuff.

(going to need a Pineapple Smoothie before going in to Finney's doctrines)


Is it possible to lead sinners to the Lord with one look?

Sure sounds like it me.

Pineapple smoothie

 

[zone]

At the same time, the Pensacola Revival of Brownsville USA was well underway. I had already been referred to Leonard Ravenhill by a close and dear mentor, Kevin Wilcock, and chewed my way through Ravenhill’s scolding Why Revival Tarries and Revival God’s Way. But now I was able to listen directly to the preaching of his protégée, Steven Hill, and watch the video replays of the dramatic responses to his sermons, with hundreds of people pouring forward from their pews towards the altar of the church in repentance of sin, service after service, year after year.

[video=youtube;M0TQCqygRzE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0TQCqygRzE[/video]

Pastor John Kilpatrick: "Ultimate manifestation of God's movement"

...

The Brownsville Revival (also known as the Pensacola Outpouring) was a widely reported religious phenomenon that began within the Pentecostal movement on Father's Day June 18, 1995, at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida.[1] Characteristics of the Brownsville Revival movement, as with other Christian religious revivals, included acts of repentance by parishioners and a call to holiness, said to be inspired by the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Some of the occurrences in this revival fit the description of moments of religious ecstasy. More than four million people are reported to have attended the meetings from its beginnings in 1995 to around 2000.[2]


One writer offered this description of the revival in 1998:

All told, more than 2.5 million people have visited the church's Wednesday-through-Saturday evening revival services, where they sang rousing worship music and heard old-fashioned sermons on sin and salvation. After the sermons were over, hundreds of thousands accepted the invitation to leave their seats and rush forward to a large area in front of the stage-like altar. Here, they "get right with God." . . . Untold thousands have hit the carpet, where they either writhe in ecstasy or lie stone-still in a state resembling a coma, sometimes remaining flat on the floor for hours at a time. Some participants call the experience being "slain in the Spirit." Others simply refer to receiving the touch of God. Regardless of what they call it, these people are putting the "roll" back in "holy roller."
—Steve Rabey[3]


In 1993, two years before the revival began, Brownsville's pastor, John Kilpatrick, began directing his congregation to pray for revival.[4] Over the next two years, he talked constantly about bringing revival to the church, even going as far as to threaten to leave the church if it didn't accept the revival.[1] Supporters of the revival would also cite prophecies by Dr. David Yonggi Cho, pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church, as evidence that the revival was inspired by God. According to Cho, God told him he was "going to send revival to the seaside city of Pensacola, and it will spread like a fire until all of America has been consumed by it."[4]



On the Sunday the revival began, evangelist Steve Hill was the guest speaker, having been invited by Kilpatrick. A video of the Father's Day service shows that the Father's Day service went rather badly for Hill. However, he and Kilpatrick spread stories of "a mighty wind" that blew through the church. This account rapidly spread across the Pentecostal community, but gained little attention in the mainstream media until the Associated Press wrote about it in March 1997. In truth, Kilpatrick had been talking "revival" for several months and had gotten word that Hill wanted to lead a big revival.[5] As word spread of what was happening at Brownsville, Hill canceled all plans to go to Russia, and preached several revival services each week for the next five years.



It was claimed that hundreds of those who attended services that day were moved to renew their faith during Hill's sermon. In time, the church opened its doors for Wednesday-through-Saturday evening revival services to accommodate the thousands of people who arrived and waited in the church parking lot before dawn for a chance to enter the packed sanctuary.[2]



By 1997, it was common to have lengthy and rapturous periods of singing and dancing and altars packed with hundreds of writhing or dead-still bodies from a variety of ages, races and socioeconomic conditions.[2] As the revival progressed the testimonies of people receiving salvation were joined by claims of supernatural healings. In Steve Hill's words, "We're seeing miraculous healings, cancerous tumors disappear and drug addicts immediately delivered."[6] However, the church told local news reporters that it did not keep records of the healings. In 1997, leaders of the revival such as Hill, Kilpatrick, and Lindell Cooley (Brownsville's worship director), traveled to cities such as Anaheim, California; Dallas, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri; Lake Charles, LA; Toledo, Ohio; and Birmingham, Alabama naming it "Awake America".[7]

Brownsville Revival - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


hype; discontent; i want i want; no Cross.
like.....The Holy Spirit moves around from city to city and "shows up" and does stuff because ppl say i want MORE (mighty things to see).

nah. doubt it.

Hill’s Time to Weep described the “power of repentance that brings revival”, and also had a deep influence on my spiritual quest for personal revival. After reading this book, I began to make it my daily goal to spend long hours on my knees in prayer and fasting for power, and with my head on the carpet weeping over the lost multitudes. I’d regularly follow this routine with walk-up evangelism in my Local Street, mall or shopping centre. I would spend Friday night going through Parramatta mall with Bible college friends, asking every passerby, “Have you heard the good news?” Saturday nights we might journey to Oxford Street in the city seeking to find and convert Pedestrians.

And people did make decisions to follow Christ. One or two people here, a few more there; but I was hungry for souls and a few handfuls in as many months was well below our expectations. Finney’s Revivalism promised mass conversions. According to Finney, the Power of God, the Power to be witnesses, should bring whole streets to Christ, if we fulfilled the conditions necessary. Together we should be able to reach hundreds, thousands of people, eventually changing the city, the nation, the world even—provided we remained humble, provided we did the hours in prayer, provided we wanted it enough, fasted enough, wept and remained 100 per cent abandoned to Christ’s mission. And so we endeavoured to ‘press in’ harder.

But although we were never completely aware of it at the time, the results were far from evident. Yes dozens of people had made ‘decisions’, but many of these commitments to Christ later fell through. We were heart-broken again and again to see much of our labour torn apart by the power of sin in the lives of our converts which remained a destructive influence despite all of our prayer and preaching. We were earnest, sincere, but still lacking success.

We needed more power. And so at the time we simply became hungrier and spiritually desperate for the dynamic and effective enabling of the Spirit that had been promised to give us real and lasting success.

We began and attended more prayer meetings, spent longer in private prayer, and time and time again I returned to Finney’s How to win souls and his Power from on High, asking myself, what was I missing and how could I obtain what we still lacked.[/QUOTE]

right....Finney was so close to God he could save people with a glance.

God talks directly to prophets like John Kilpatrick and Steve Hill....why not "me"?
"i must be doing something wrong".

noooooooooo.......those guys are lying is the thing.

drawing disciples after themselves.

...

it's really cool when ppl who come out of it actually testify.
that's awesome....

 

[zone]

now....weren't Steve Hill & John Kilpatrick praying for and endorsing Todd Bentley in the Florida Revival thingee?

...

VIDEO REMOVED (i'm sure we've all seen it). the guy died.

Friday, June 27, 2008
TODD BENTLEY: God said "Knee that cancer patient in the gut"
The video below is from a man named Stefan Driess... start the video at 4:03 to see Todd Bentley knee him in the stomach. Now, mind you, Mr. Driess idolizes Mr. Bentley as a "man of God" so Todd could have literally punched him in the nose and Mr. Driess would have taken it as a gift from God. (Notice Todd's Pro Wrestler move of slapping his knee first!)

Living in The Way: TODD BENTLEY: God said "Knee that cancer patient in the gut"

...

[video=youtube;klTpmeHJ2KE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klTpmeHJ2KE[/video]

Todd Bentley kicking people in the face revival

....

like....will anyone own this guy?

...

why isn't he to be believed or taken seriously but his endorsers and mentors are?
or......is he taken seriously?

he's of satan, right? or no.

 

[SarahM777]

UMM Zone,

The man who wrote that is a teacher and still with the Pentecostal church at this time. He teaches at University Fellowship of Christians (University of Tasmania)

 

[zone]

UMM Zone,

The man who wrote that is a teacher and still with the Pentecostal church at this time. He teaches at University Fellowship of Christians (University of Tasmania)

??

really? so he is saying it was all good stuff?
k...not finished yet.

 

[SarahM777]

??

really? so he is saying it was all good stuff?
k...not finished yet.

Not quite. He did "see" some flaws with Finney and was going teach a class on it at the class but he never mentioned what the problems he saw with Finney were,but he was going to use that as a basis for discussion in the class. Other then that he does not appear that he disavows it in any way or form. But to be fair I have not read all of the stuff on his site. He may yet have some disagreements on some points.

 

[zone]

Not quite. He did "see" some flaws with Finney and was going teach a class on it at the class but he never mentioned what the problems he saw with Finney were,but he was going to use that as a basis for discussion in the class. Other then that he does not appear that he disavows it in any way or form. But to be fair I have not read all of the stuff on his site. He may yet have some disagreements on some points.

wow. i'll have to start over, because the tone of it was suggesting to me he was a former.
mkay.....restart.

 

[Angela53510]

Ok, what about this myth that the Pentecostal Movement started on the Day of Pentecost?

I have no trouble with reading the book of Acts, and seeing God moving - speaking in tongues that other people heard the gospel in, visions from God for the apostles (the Peter and Cornelius incident comes to mind), even casting out a demon from a servant girl in Acts 16.

But the CONTINUITY of these gifts is really the crux of the matter. Did these gifts continue? Was there one continuous, continuing move of the gifts that is recorded anywhere in history? Do the church fathers speak about walking in the gifts, or the fact that they have stopped?

What about the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment? Where is the historical evidence this movement, which occurred primarily in the first part of the book of Acts continues?

If any of you Pentecostals took the time to actually read what Zone and Sarah have posted, you will find a NEW movement, starting with the late 19th century, but with roots back to Finney and other revivalists, who perverted the true gospel that men like Jonathan Edwards were preaching.

You will also find a movement today, that is so far from the Biblical events in Acts, that it bears NO RESEMBLANCE to the purpose and accomplishments of God from the birth of the church.

Instead, you will find a movement with tongues not interpreted, evil manifestations such as "holy" laughter, dog barking, people rolling in the aisles. Where are these things in the Bible? They are simply NOT there.

Nor does the Bible have a bunch of rich tele-evangelists begging for money so you can get healed with a prayer cloth etc, etc. The apostles did the work of the God as directed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit which came once for all who believe on the day of Pentecost.

No second or third blessing. Just the love and forgiveness of God (that is the gospel!) from the moment God saves us.

Think carefully about all these man made things that have been added to the gospel. This movement focuses on the spectacular and the visible, which is not what happened in Acts. Instead, thousands were added daily, because they believed the gospel.

NOT because of signs and wonders, but because they heard the gospel preached in their own language and they believed.

"Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” [SUP]38 [/SUP]And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:37-38

They repented and were baptized in water for the forgiveness of sins and they received the Holy Spirit. No second manifestation! No weird antics being silly or pushed down by some man with catchers behind or being kicked in the gut!

 

[SarahM777]

wow. i'll have to start over, because the tone of it was suggesting to me he was a former.
mkay.....restart.

It also appears he sees some of the problems within Pentecostalism,where he sees they stray from scripture too so.

Talking Pentecostalism

[h=3]Negative tendencies of Pentecostalism[/h]
Having already described some of the many positive characteristics to its credit, here are some of the negative tendencies of Pentecostalism. In Keep In Step with the Spirit, J. I. Paker gave 10 negative aspects of the Charismatic movement. Here again I've adapted these for the purpose of highlighting what dangers may both impede the Christlikeness of Pentecostals, and threaten the growth in Christian maturity of those who would be influenced by Pentecostalism.

1. Superiority

Pentecostalism has a predisposition towards elitism built into its theology. Restoration theology gave birth to Pentecostalism when it taught that only a new band of Spirit-filled Christians would be effective in winning the world before Christ's return. Now Pentecostalism's basic theology of Spirit-baptism insists that only those having a second-stage experience are fully empowered for Christian service. This two-class emphasis breeds an inevitable degree of pride within Pentecostal circles. Ironically, for a movement that speaks so much of unity, it by nature creates dis-unity.

2. Divergent

Pentecostalism is by habit an insular movement, as Pentecostals tend to limit their 'world' to their own movement, restricting their reading, listening and fellowship to Pentecostal sources, or at best broadening themselves to charismatic evangelicalism. Such religious isolation has the effect across generations of creating intra-cultural adaptation so that Pentecostalism is continuing to be a divergent branch of Christianity. This sectarian trend brings with it all the dangers of any cult-like movement.

3. Experience-based

By appealing too frequently to inward feelings and focusing too often on human and spiritual experience the Pentecostal movement tends towards a preoccupation with the emotional element of spirituality. Experiential and personal knowledge is set against theological knowledge. This leads to a culture of ego-focused spirituality with members who increasingly become absorbed by their own individual quests for self-fulfillment through personal encounters with God. It also creates the sub-Christian tendency to rely on, as a basis for faith, personal experiences and group culture.

4. Counter-intellectual

Pentecostalism often sets the spiritual over against the intellectual, and devalues academic study and argument, which by consequence are perceived to be essentially unspiritual. What can be anti-intellectualism regards as a higher form of knowledge that which cannot be known by natural understanding, for the Spirit goes beyond words. Pentecostals tend to major repeatedly on central home-grown themes within the movement, and as a result omitting massive sections of Scripture and Biblical doctrine. Such gross imbalance is not helped by Pentecostalism's often unwillingness to engage in in any serious consideration of counter-currents within Christianity which would disagree with their teaching or emphasis.

5. Intro-spiritual

Insistence on the importance of direct divine revelation and an over-emphasis on the importance of the Spirit's personal guidance makes Pentecostalism extremely susceptible to the influence of new movements, new teaching, and new leaders. Deluded claims, fake showmanship, false testimony, heretical teaching, all abound in a Pentecostal environment that so easily falls for every strong charismatic leader who would trumpet new insight, testify to special encounters with God and boast of closer intimacy with the Spirit than others.

Talking Pentecostalism: Negative tendencies of Pentecostalism

cont

 

[SarahM777]

6. Meritocratic

Pentecostalism so often betrays belief in the false principle that giftedness is related to maturity, and spiritual power to the visible manifestation of the Spirit's working. Pentecostal's emphasis on the 'faithfulness = fruitfulness' motto results in a culture in which spiritual health becomes proportional to the impressiveness of one's ministry. Fall out from burn out in ministry is common because, although character is esteemed in principle, in practice immaturity and unhealthy spirituality tends to run rife among Pentecostal leaders who are more focused on their performance and outward achievement than the Spirit's fruit of Christlike holiness.

7. Miracle crazed

As a movement fuelled by an expectancy of God's constant supernatural demonstration of his power and presence, Pentecostals look to see God's activity in miracles and healings. Pentecostalism sets the supernatural over against the natural. Without a solid doctrinal foundation of providence and the sovereignty of God over all things in creation, Pentecostals expect God's normal working in ways contrary to nature and common sense. Clear warnings to any movement running after signs and wonders in the last days are plainly set out in the New Testament.

8. Eden idealism

The Pentecostal ideal is Eden-like peace and prosperity in this life. Kingdom-now theology has Pentecostals hoping to achieve heaven on earth, spiritually, physically, materially and socially. Happiness is equated with godliness since victory over any type of negativity – whether doubt, sickness, poverty or anxiety – is a matter of faith in God's promises. Spiritual shipwreck from disillusionment is common among Pentecostal victims of this false hope.

9. Angelic engrossment

An over-emphasis of demonic activity and reliance on spiritual warfare tends to create an unhealthy deliverance mentality among Pentecostal circles, who can become obsessed with a fixation on angelic forces and the interpretation of end-time events, providing an enormous diversion from attention to growth in moral and spiritual maturity.

10. Majority mentality

Strong group peer-pressure is a powerful influence within Pentecostal culture, which is self-enforcing my its now enormous tidal current of conformism. Like any large movement where majority rules the persuasion of cultural norm means any attempts to buck the trend or reform from within by individuals or small groups tend to be drowned or pushed effectively to the side into schism movements. Ironically, Pentecostalism is now entrenched in tradition, perpetuating a new form of legalistic bondage.

None without need

No movement is free from weaknesses that threaten it. Many movements are endangered by elitism and other negative tendencies that characterise Pentecostalism. We should never attempt to remove grit from another's eye without first the planks from our own.

This granted, any one of these negative aspects would be sufficient to keep any movement in a state of spiritual childishness and Christian immaturity. The Apostle Paul in his epistles to the Corinthians set more than a precedent for the identification of weaknesses within the Church and the calling for their correction. My thesis is that each and every one of Pentecostalism's negative trends arises from deficiencies in the theological framework that underpins them. Here's to hoping and praying that this site will help in some small way to rebuild more adequately that foundation for some.

Talking Pentecostalism: Negative tendencies of Pentecostalism

 

[unclefester]

Wow Sarah ... this is one outstanding and in-depth study. But well well worth the read. Great work !

 

[unclefester]

You must spread some reputation around before giving it to Sarah, Zone and Angela again

 

[SarahM777]

Wow Sarah ... this is one outstanding and in-depth study. But well well worth the read. Great work !

Uncle,

Thank God. The man who wrote the blog did the leg work. God gave me the desire to read and learn. I love looking things up and finding information. (I love reading wish I had more time to do it)

 

[Enow]

is he saying passing through a charged "atmosphere; struck with conviction of sin and, in many instances, converted to Christ" without hearing anything preached?

So maybe we should ask Pentecostal churches if anybody had a supernatural encounter with the "Holy Spirit" BUT still do not believe in Jesus Christ?

I read somewhere about the after affects of the revival at Azusa as they did draw in alot of people from the bars. After the manifestations of the "Spirit" had gone away, it was reported that these life changing converts went back to the bars.

In these recent times, I saw a televised testimony of a person that used to get high on drugs, but now he gets high on the Lord. What are the chances that after these supernatural encounters went away, he went back to drugs?

So I do wonder how many that are Pentecostals by church membership but are "still" not believers in Jesus Christ. I'm not saying that because they went back to drugs & booze that they are not saved, but I do wonder what people are being "converted to" and that there may be a chance that they still do not believe in Jesus Christ at all yet?

 

[SarahM777]

Talking Pentecostalism

Why Pentecostalism began


Pentecostalism began as a worldwide movement when a revival of tongues speaking at the beginning of the 20th century attracted international attention. Speaking about the origin of Pentecostalism, Vinson Synan (Ph. D., University of Georgia) says, “The Topeka and Los Angeles events took place in a turn-of-the century religious environment that encouraged the appearance of such a Pentecostal movement.” [1] The question is, what was the religious environment that encouraged the appearance of Pentecostalism? What prepared the world for Pentecostalism, historically? In other words, why did Pentecostalism begin?

Firstly, people were seeking the "gift of languages". [2] Among those committed to world evangelisation serious concerns arose over how the unreached millions were going to hear the gospel before the end. Several factors generated these concerns: The missions movement had spent considerable time and energy but the numbers of conversions of native peoples was alarmingly small; the premillennialists' gloomy assessment of the immediate future caused Christians in this movement to expect the condition of humankind to get worse before the imminent return of the Lord; and then when the arms race of the 1890s occurred and the end of the century was approaching, the Christian expectation of the end of the world was considerably heightened.

Widespread interest in the gifts of the Spirit convinced some that God was going to restore the gift of tongues (identifiable human languages) to the Church to equip them to preach the gospel in other countries, in preparation for the end. In 1895 the widely read Holiness author W. B. Godbey predicted: “[The “Gift of Language” is] destined to play a conspicuous part in the evangelization of the heathen world, amid the glorious prophetical fulfilment of the latter days. All missionaries in heathen lands should seek and expect this Gift to enable them to preach fluently in the vernacular tongue, at the same time not depreciating their own efforts.” [3]

Frank W. Sandford was another teacher who advocated the missionary use of tongues-speaking. He spread this teaching in his publication “Tongues of Fire” through which he endevoured to rapidly evangelise the world. He and others were praying and expected to receive the gift of “power and eloquence” for evangelism. This desire for the gift of languages set the stage for the revival of tongues speaking that occurred in the early 1900s.

Secondly, people were seeking a restoration of the "full" gospel. The Holiness movement sought to restore what it understood to be New Testament Christianity to the Church in the last days in preparation for Christ's return. This led to the movement reforming existing theology to develop what it saw to be the “full" gospel. Reflecting this desire, A. B. Simpson blended together four themes of Christ as Savior, Baptizer, Healer, and Coming King. In time this was described as the “full gospel” or “fourfold gospel.” [4] This change of theology set the stage for Pentecostalism.

"By the turn of the century, the Holiness movement had become preoccupied with the “Pentecostal reformation of Weslyan doctrine” and the four themes of the full gospel. In fact, when the Pentecostal movement began a few years later, only the priority given to the gift of tongues distinguished it theologically from Holiness beliefs." [5]


Talking Pentecostalism: Why Pentecostalism began
​

cont

 

[SarahM777]

Thirdly, people were seeing spiritual experiences as “crisis” events. The Holiness movement taught that Christian spirituality involved seeking distinct experiences that occured as instant events. This in turn set the stage for the Pentecostal doctrine of Spirit baptism as a separate experience to conversion.

"Not only did such Holiness teachers emphasize conscious religious experiences, they tended to encourage persons to seek for them as “crisis” experiences that could be received in an instant of time through prayer and faith. By 1890 the Holiness movement began to think of religious experiences more in terms of crisis than in gradual categories. Thus the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church taught instant conversion through the new birth, instant sanctification as a second blessing, instant baptism in the Holy Ghost and fire, instant divine healing through prayer, and the instant premillennial second coming of Christ." [6]​

Fourthly, there was a need for "evidence" of the second work. Benjamin Hardin Irwin was a radical Weslyan Holiness preacher who taught a third work of grace for power in Christian service. In 1895 he began teaching that the second work of grace initiated sanctification and the third brought baptism in the Spirit. This “third blessing” was called “the fire.” Irwin named his group the Fire-Baptized Holiness Church, beginning another movement that started new groups across America and Canada. This created the problem of needing evidence to distinguishing between those who had received the third blessing from those who had the second only. This problem was part of the reason why the mainstream Holiness Movement rejected his as the “third blessing heresy.”

This controversy laid an important foundation for Pentecostalism because it crystallised the movement's commitment to a two-stage work of the Spirit (which would be simpler to identify). It also highlighted the need to clarify what is the nature of the second work of grace (which would be empowerment, not sanctification). In addition, the Irwin heresy (as it was called) revealed the need for an evidence for the second work of grace. This again set the stage for Pentecostalism which provided that evidence. Irwin later joined the Pentecostal Movement.

To summarise, the historical situation at the turn of the nineteenth-century that encouraged the appearance of Pentecostalism was a widespread desire for the gift of languages for world evangelisation, the desire for a restoration of the “full gospel” involving Spirit-baptism as a post-conversion experience and the miraculous gifts such as healing, the emphasis on spiritual experiences as “crisis” events, and the theological necessity of an evidence to distinguish those having received subsequent works of the Spirit from those who had not.

But in order to understand the origin of Pentecostalism completely we also need to understand how early Pentecostal thinkers themselves interpreted the historical events surrounding their beginnings. Did they themselves understand their doctrine of tongues-speaking to be unique in church history? Did they interpret the events surrounding the beginning of the twentieth-century as the end-time restoration of the “Apostolic faith” in preparation for Christ's return? In the next article, we'll talk about how early Pentecostals viewed Pentecostalism.

Talking Pentecostalism: Why Pentecostalism began