John MacArthur, Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship (Nashville, TN: Nelson Books, 2013), 333 pages, ISBN 9781400206414. Strange Fire by John MacArthur is a vicious and callous attack on the worldwide Pentecostal/Charismatic movement, and a great affront to the hundreds of millions of born-again Christians in every nation…
This year’s Charismatic Leaders Fellowship Consultation, formerly called the CLF Conference, was held in Augusta, Georgia, February 24-27. Yearly, this group of Charismatic leaders meets to discuss news and issues about the world-wide Pentecostal/charismatic movement. The group was originally founded in 1970 by Dennis Bennett, of Nine O’Clock in the Morning[1] fame, to discuss and…
A brief look at the controversial gift of speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance, by Pastor John Lathrop. The twentieth century has witnessed the rapid growth of two remarkable religious movements, the Pentecostal Movement and the Charismatic Movement. The Pentecostal Movement, which appeared first, attracted widespread attention in the early 1900’s. This was…
What are some of the practical implications of a theology of the cross and the Spirit in the realm of healing and ministry? This excerpt comes from the final chapter of Cletus Hull’s book, The Wisdom of the Cross and the Power of the Spirit in the Corinthian Church. As a pastor for thirty years,…
Jeff Oliver, Pentecost To The Present: The Holy Spirit’s Enduring Work in the Church, Book Three: Worldwide Revivals and Renewal (Newberry, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2017), 320 pages, ISBN 9780912106366. Jeff Oliver has taken on the ambitious task of chronicling the charismatic work of the Holy Spirit throughout church history. He has done this by writing a three…
Vinson Synan, “Oral Roberts: Son of Pentecostalism, Father of the Charismatic Movement,” Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology, 2:2 (2017) pages 5-21. Dr. Synan’s very fine article describes Oral Roberts (1918-2009) as “one of the most important religious figures of the twentieth century,” and that is indeed true. He, more that any person, brought Pentecostalism to…
Robert W. Graves, Praying in the Spirit (Tulsa, OK, Empowered Life, 2017), 280 pages, ISBN 9781680310870. Praying in the Spirit was first released in 1987. Now, thirty years later, it has been re-released in an updated and expanded edition. Robert Graves is eminently qualified to write about this subject because of his longstanding connections to…
Historian William De Arteaga introduces us to the beginning and early years of the Charismatic Movement, when Pentecostalism and the gifts of the Spirit publicly and dramatically entered into the mainline churches. Previous articles in this series covered the origins of Pentecostalism, and the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International. Both groups played…
Introduction The purpose of this article is to reveal the initial development of the teaching on the Holy Spirit in the life of Alexander Campbell, founder of the movement named the Disciples of Christ. Campbell’s pneumatology must be placed within the context of American history in the nineteenth century. Beginning with the influence of…
With a group of Christians hovering around the 600 million mark worldwide1, one would expect such a collective to have a substantial impact across a host of areas. That is the resounding reality within the Pentecostal and Charismatic branch of the church. Yet, while many might begin with the unique pneumatological perspective or the practical angle…