As an educated Baby Boomer (but not an American history major), I found much of the narrative informative. For instance, at the pivotal Battle of Kings Mountain, there was only one British officer present who led Loyalist regiments against the Patriots. Throughout the series the Loyalists were presented fairly, as persons who followed their conscience, not as fools or villains, although some, like Colonel Tarlton, were.

George Washington is highlighted as man of tact and courage, indispensable in keeping the poorly supplied Continental Army and its untrained militias together. The series stressed that the American victory ultimately came because the Americans wore the British out, not that they had won many battles.

Washington’s choice of resisting being crowned after the war and retiring to Mt. Vernon, plus his refusal to run for a third term, were shown as pivotal for the democratic development of our nation. We can be especially thankful of this in view of the tragedies and tyrannical governments that followed the 1960s era of independence from French and British colonial governments where insurgent generals often became cruel and long-lasting tyrants.

On the other hand, The American Revolution made a frank presentation of Washington’s involvement in land speculation of Indian-owned territory and his order for the destruction of towns and crops of the Indians in Western New York. The description of that campaign was especially difficult to watch, as it must have been for many of my Baby Boomer contemporaries. We were not normally taught these negative aspects about Washington, even though such things are now routinely taught in practically every American history course. Washington’s role as slave owner was also clearly shown, including how he meticulously administered the return of runaway slaves to their owners at the end of hostilities.

This differs with the traditional versions we Baby Boomers learned as high-school and college students. You can find such a perspective in the video, “The First American” (2015) put out by the Gingrich Foundation and hosted by Newt and Callista Gingrich along with a roster of conservative luminaries. In this presentation, the only reference to Washington’s relationship with slavery was about his will, in which he freed his slaves. Also not mentioned were the campaigns against the Indians. However, to be fair about the latter, some sort of military action was necessary to secure the New York and Pennsylvania fronts from constant Indian raids.

But conservative critics do have real reasons for their claim that Burn’s The American Revolution was partly a “hatchet job” (pun intended). A detailed review by Dan McLaughlin in the National Review, “No, Ken Burns, the United States Is Not an Iroquois Nation” (Nov 22, 2025), cites several historical errors including a big ideological misinterpretation.

Most disturbing was the absence of any description of English constitutional history in forming the opinions and attitudes of the Colonists. All but the most uneducated Colonists were aware that their “rights as Englishmen” were related to the Magna Carta and its interpretive development. They also knew that the English Civil War overthrew and executed one King, and later the “Glorious Revolution,” idolized by most colonists as a triumph of Protestantism, deposed another. All of this makes the colonial attitude towards their rights and their King historically located and understandable. None of this was mentioned in The American Revolution. This reflects a Leftist disdain of constitutional history as “bourgeois” and irrelevant. Indeed, this is the most serious error and omission of the series.

Despite these flaws, I would affirm that The American Revolution reflects in a major degree the biblical perspective of history. That is, that heroes have serious flaws, but are still providentially used by God. In the Bible the real hero of the Old Testament is God, with multiple “supporting characters” who are imperfect and sometimes disreputable. Moses sinned by destroying the tablet of the Ten Commandments. His brother Aaron, first High Priest, lied about his role in forming the golden calf. In fact, the heroes in the Book of Judges, who were chosen by God to save the Israelites from destruction and oppression, had major flaws, as in Samson and his inability to keep his pants up. David, certainly Israel’s best king, is not spared narrative criticism. His adultery and murder of Uriah was exposed by the prophet Nathan and detailed in the book of Second Kings (chapter 12). And although David repented (Psalm 51) he could not avoid the consequences of his sins. These included a rebellion against him by his son Absalom and ultimately a divided kingdom.

In the New Testament, we see Peter denying Christ three times. After Pentecost, when he was indeed strengthened by the Holy Spirit, he slid away from the freedom of the Gospel and cowardly appeased the “men from Jerusalem” (Galatians 2:11-14).

So perhaps the “heroes” of the Bible were mostly like our Washington. He was the Father of a nation, hero in battle, master of fortitude and resiliency in the midst of setbacks But he also had the flaws of accepting slavery even though he knew it was evil, and perpetuating injustices towards the Indians.

The Founding Fathers’ faults have been routinely taught in American schools for decades now. Most recently, The New York Times’ “The 1619 Project” exaggerated these to the point of mendacity. The ill effects of such a negative focus will be felt in American educations for decades to come. It has resulted in a noticeable, some say catastrophic, decline in patriotism among the younger generation. (What will be the outcome of some future conflict with China fought by a demoralized and unpatriotic draftee Army?)

We can never revert to the traditionalist narrative of neglecting the negative aspects of American history – that would be both impossible in a free society, and more importantly, unbiblical. The Trump administration has begun to undo some of the gross exaggerations by attempting to mold educational textbooks and curriculum to a patriotic position. But American education is largely a state issue, and reversing decades of the exaggerated anti-American narrative and “The 1619 Project,” now embedded in the attitudes of teachers, would be an especially difficult task. Saying this, I commend reasonable attempts, as for example those done in Florida and other conservative states to correct the anti-American narrative with more balanced textbooks and curricula.

Since if we are not likely to get back the traditional patriotism of “The Greatest Generation” which lived through and fought the Second World War, what type of patriotism can come from a biblical perspective? That would be a reasonable love of country that cherishes its good points and achievements, but does not hide its sinful mistakes. St. Augustine, who did not use the term patriotism but rather love of one’s own homeland, noted: “So long as we are in this mortal body, we are away from the Lord… and we love, as is natural, our own land where we live for a time” (The City of God XIX.17).

Augustine also noted that our love of country was to be subordinated to our loyalty and love for the Kingdom of God, and he was especially aware of the temptation to glorify early kingdoms to the point of idolatry. This happened significantly in the Roman Empire when its citizens were required to offer incense to the Emperor – and many Christians were martyred for not doing so.

I talked about Mexico and how God must be pleased with how – after conquest and much injustice to the Indians by the Spaniards – Mexico has developed a largely “mestizo” culture, where their races have been blended and are now living harmoniously. Other countries, like Bolivia, have no done so well. I also noted how successive Mexican governments since the Revolution of 1917, which many Mexicans idolize, had begun a tradition of government corruption that was never effectively confronted. This led to the present danger of having Mexico divided into a collection of drug “principalities” where gangster lawlessness prevailed. Their patriotism and prayers for Mexico must continue in spite of an imperfect home country.

Then I called on them to love and respect their present homeland where they had come to live and work. Here they establish businesses without having to bribe the police or government bureaucrats. America fought wars for freedom which destroyed both Fascism and Communism, something to be immensely proud of.

And yes, American culture has many faults. But again, my congregants had the biblical obligation to pray for the American presidents and state governors and its governments. It was especially important to pray for wisdom in the American presidents with their ability to begin and end wars. At the time, several in my congregation already had children in the Armed Forces (that was fifteen years ago, I wonder if any died in Afghanistan or Iraq).

All of which is to say, there can be an Augustinian-Christian approach to patriotism that takes into account mankind’s universal sinfulness in its different national manifestations, but celebrates one’s national achievements.

PR

Beyond Belief It is a, fascinating, extensively researched, encouraging, insightful (but sometimes exasperating) description of the expansion of the worldwide Pentecostal/charismatic churches. For the American Spirit-filled believer, it is also an important source for understanding of the various ways Pentecostal/charismatics are “doing church” throughout the world.

The author, Ms. Elle Hardy, is not an academician, but a master reporter with a proven track record. For Beyond Belief she traveled to 12 countries where Pentecostalism is prominent as well as many parts of the United States. Her methodology involves an immersion into the worship and life of the various and very different Pentecostal/charismatic churches she investigates. She also seems to have an ability to contact and win the confidence of the leaders she interviews. Yet she keeps a certain critical distance from the topic by the fact she is not a born-again believer – despite the many attempts by her Pentecostal friends and contacts to make her so. Hardy’s descriptions of the various forms of Spirit-filled congregations are an encouragement that the Holy Spirit revival begun at Azusa Street has not been stymied despite local scandals and setbacks – which Hardy often details.

Beyond Belief is divided into two parts. Part 1 is entitled “The Good News: The Unstoppable Rise of Pentecostalism.” The title gives the book’s central thesis, Spirit-filled Churches are growing and will be the future of the Church at large. Part 2 is called “Spiritual Warfare: The battle to build heaven on earth.” This Part explores the author’s fear that Spirit-filled churches will attempt to establish forms of theocratic rule over the Earth.

As a historian, I found chapter one, which deals with the origins of Pentecostalism, especially interesting in its interpretation. Hardy gives special credit to Aimee Semple McPherson as the person who brought Pentecostalism to wide public attention, if not acceptance. She understands McPhearson as a proto-charismatic and proto-Televangelist through her pioneering use of radio evangelism and relief work for the poor.

Chapter 4, entitled “The Father, the Sons, and the Holy Mess,” deals with the Pentecostal movement in Brazil which is overtaking Catholicism as the majority religion in that country. Brazil now has a bevy of megachurches with Pentecostal pastors who mostly preach an exaggerated “prosperity Gospel” and live lavishly. The author makes much of this seeming contradiction, unaware that there can be moderate and biblical expressions of prosperity teaching, such as was developed by Puritan theologians in the 18^th Century.[1] Significantly, Hardy also admits that the prosperity Gospel motivates the poor to be honest and work hard and ultimately helps elevate them out of poverty. Also, Pentecostalism has become a major factor in the lives of Brazil’s lower classes, as opposed to the Catholic Church which was predominantly a middle- and upper-class church with “outreach” to the poor, not centered on their transformation out of poverty. She summarizes, “…research has found that people who come from poverty or cycles of violence and addiction have more chances of escaping that world if they joined an evangelical [Pentecostal] church …” (p. 90).

Chapter 5, “The Bigger the Prophecy the Bigger the Pocket,” covers how strong Pentecostalism has become in sub-Saharan Africa. Like the churches in Brazil, there are many “prosperity Gospel” megachurches in Africa for the same reasons—they help the poor come out of poverty. But to a greater degree than Brazil’s Pentecostal churches, the ones in Africa can manifest dangerous levels of syncretism, that is, incorporating animist and pagan elements of belief and practice into their churches. For instance, the role of the “prophet” is highly esteemed in Africa and this office is often blended with unscriptural elements, such as ongoing communications with dead ancestors. All of this raises interesting questions on how far the Gospel can accommodate to culture, before it becomes “another Gospel” (see Gal 1:6).

Chapter 6 entitled, “Did you Know About the Good Samaritan,” is about Pentecostalism in the UK. This is an inspiring account of how the Gypsies (Roma people) in the UK and Europe have been rapidly and successfully evangelized into Pentecostal churches. The Gypsies have been transformed into hardworking and stable populations and are now often accepted members of European communities where they were formally despised and rarely evangelized.

Part 2 of the book develops Hardy’s view of spiritual warfare. Unlike most readers of The Pneuma Review, her concern and focus is not on the theology or practice of battling the “principalities and powers.” Rather she is focused on the trend that the theology of spiritual warfare, especially the concept of “occupying” the seven mountains of human culture, education, government, medicine, entertainment, etc. is an attempt to usher us to some sort of theocratic state.

This section begins with chapter 7, “A Company Town.” This is the study of Redding, California, which is the home of Bethel Chapel, one of the largest megachurches in America. The church has achieved a great amount of influence in Redding, to the point that people must be careful of what they say and to whom they say it. Hardy also faults an overenthusiastic Christian healing ministry in Redding, were volunteer laypersons at times barge into medical facilities uninvited (Personally, I would rather have to deal with that problem, which is easy to fix, than with the problem of not having enough volunteers to minister at hospitals). Hardy’s complaints in this case seems exaggerated and trivial.

Chapter 8 is entitled, “Fully cursed and abundantly blessed.” In a fascinating section, it describes an Islamic denomination that has adopted many Pentecostal practices, such as tithing, ecstatic states of worship, and a modified Islamic prosperity gospel. The denomination goes under the acronym NASAFAT and has many branches in West Africa and the US. This chapter then turns to the Church in Nigeria, where it is flourishing. Many churches are extremely influential in Nigeria and provide all sorts of services including dating for singles, Christian schools, etc. to a degree not known in the United States.

A point of sadness. Hardy notes that friction between Christians and Muslims are high in Nigeria and believes that Nigeria may be very close to civil war. She believes a major contributing factor is the Christian spiritual warfare ideology of the “seven mountains” which attempt to control the nation (p. 190). Hardy claims that many Nigerian pastors are ex-Muslims, and rather than having great compassion for Muslims, generally act with discourtesy and nastiness towards them.

“Not your grandmother’s church,” is the title of chapter 9. The main point here is that Christians in the United States have sometimes gone overboard in combating sex trafficking by prosecuting the easy target, the soliciting “Johns.” At times their lives are ruined with felony convictions and embarrassing publicity. Hardy claims that Christian ministers often use the popularity of this type of ministry to enhance their church’s standing while avoiding the very serious issue of the semi-slavery of many Asian immigrants in nail polishing shops, dishwashers, etc. All of this is related to the attempt to prove that Pentecostals are molding secular power and laws for their seven mountain campaigns without much discernment. I found this chapter unconvincing and the least satisfactory of the book.

To the contrary, the new Pentecostal pastors and lay leaders are intolerant of shamans and their practices. Unfortunately, as Pentecostals increase in numbers and political power, this can lead to mob action, violence and even murder. Hardy amply documents this and shows a similar pattern in Brazil. Certainly, those actions are wrong, unbiblical, and sinful. Again, the author relates these actions to seven mountain theology.

Hardy assumes that the traditional Catholic approach is the correct one. I believe her position is erroneous and spiritually destructive as it leaves the demonic activity and its realms unchallenged. Part of her confusion is that her immersion style reporting opened her to demonic influences. She recounts how after an interview with a Mayan shaman: “We lit candles from a small flame pit and prayed to each of the four energies as we turned in each direction. Ramulu [the shaman] gave Mother Nature an offering of palm tree and asked for her blessings” (p. 218).

The proper New Testament response to witchcraft and shamanism is outlined in Acts 13: 8-12, where Paul disables a sorcerer, but does not permanently harm him. Tragically this has not been appropriated by Christians as something possible in the post-Apostolic age, so this effective tool has been used only infrequently in Church history.[2]

Hardy links the negative and hostile actions of Pentecostals towards non-Christians to dominion theology, which is perhaps an overreach, as that type of theological sophistication is unlikely in the Mayan areas. Also, there is problem in that she doesn’t really understand the demonic dangers and energies of shamanistic worship and objects.

Chapter 11 is entitled, “We ain’t going round that mountain another seven years.” This deals with the fact that many Pentecostal congregation are gravitating to right-wing and populist, identity politics. She finds this especially dangerous for the future of Christian witness and the Church universal. Only time will tell whether her fears are prophecy or hysteria.

In summary, Beyond Belief is an extremely informative, but flawed book, full of eye-popping accounts of congregations in all parts of the world doing church enthusiastically, if not always with true discernment.

Reviewed by William De Arteaga

Publisher’s page: www.HurstPublishers.com/book/beyond-belief/

Notes

[1] On this issue see my book Quenching the Spirit (Lake Mary: Creation House, 1996), chapter 15. [Editor’s note: see the review by Mike Dies]

[2] See my essay, “The Ministry of command Disablement,’ in: William De Arteaga, Battling the Demonic (2023). [Editor’s note: see the review by Anders Litzell]

This year’s CLF began with an introductory sermon by Pastor Scott Kelso, author of several notable charismatic books.  His theme was that Deut. 4, is a recap of the Old Testament – Love God, be obedient to the Law, and avoid idolatry. Pastor Kelso pointed out that this was the book of the Bible most cited by our nation’s Founding Fathers.

The first formal session of the conference was delivered by Dr. John Gresham, retired seminary professor (Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St Louis).  Dr. Gresham came to faith in the California “Jesus’ People” movement and eventually migrated from Pentecostalism to Charismatic Catholic in his beliefs. His presentation was entitled, “What the Early Church did right.” In his view, the Church’s careful attention to discipling was a key to its survival and growth under persecution. Early Christians usually underwent a three-year period of instruction and deliverance ministry before they were baptized. This produced Christians who were discipled and not just converted.

Sessions 2 and 3 were presented by Dr. Dan Keating, seminary professor and Fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. His objective was to explain the process and importance of the Council of Nicaea. His noted that the creeds are “medicine” against today’s modernist tendencies to relativism and fluid doctrine. His detailed description of the Council was a revelation to most of us. What we call the Nicene Creed was formed in two stages. The original draft was forged in 325 A.D. to counter the heresy of Arius, a priest in Alexandria, who taught that Jesus was a created being (i.e., not God). This draft was short, and included a mention of the Holy Spirit, affirming that the Spirit too was God.  But Arianism continued to spread, and in 381 A.D. a second council added clarifying statement to flesh out the Creed as we know it today.[1]

Session 4 was by Anthony Martini, a member of Faith Village which forms the core of the Alleluia Covenant Community. Martini gained a master’s of sacred theology from the Collegium Augustinianum. His presentation was on the Church before Nicaea.  He showed from the earliest writers that Church organization and theology was fluid in the first century, but by the Third century had arrived at a “proto-Catholic” consensus. This was due, according to Martine, to the influence of St. Paul as well such pivotal writers as Polycarp and Clement.

The next lecture was given by Dr. Timothy Cremeens, a priest in the Orthodox Church of North America. Fr. Cremeens has been a regular attendee at the CLF for a decade, and has at different times described the difficult road that the Pentecostal/charismatic movement has in establishing itself in traditional Orthodoxy. This time he showed how the Orthodox churches have not changed their theological or doctrinal prospectives from the time of Nicaea. He explained how Orthodox clergy sees the non-Orthodox world as one of chaos, as it flounders in Protestant liberalism and other modernist heresies.

Session 8 was led by a lay Catholic woman Mrs. Kim Catherine-Marie Kollins.  She has been European coordinator between Catholic and Protestant charismatic groups for over four decades. She told the story of how difficult inter-faith cooperation was when she started her work, and how now it has come into a fullness and ease of cooperation that few would have expected in the 20^th century.

The last information session was led by Dr. Richard Roberts, from Dorset, England. Trained as a physician, Dr. Roberts developed an interest in Celtic Christianity.  His talk began by describing the woeful plight of the churches in the UK.  Only about 7% of the population go to church on Sunday. Yet there are areas of revival, as manifested in the African, especially Nigerian, congregations in London and other parts of the UK, and which are influencing many other churches.

Dr. Roberts’ focus turned to the question of what sort of leadership is needed to bring revival in the UK.  He suggested looking that Celtic Christianity and its founder, St. Patrick. The scriptural context is Rom. 5: 3-5 – suffering for Christ. Here St. Partick’s life and marvelously effective ministry demonstrates the point.  St. Partick was kidnapped out of an aristocratic family in Wales, suffered severe privation as a slave in Ireland, escaped, but returned as bishop-missionary to his land of captivity.

Besides the excellent praise interludes before every session, the conference was interspaced by two sessions of ministry. One was a period of prophecy and praying for one another. Another was a discussion of exorcism and deliverance. This was led by Chuck Hornsby and Bob Garrett, the former an experienced deliverance minister, and the latter the coordinator of the Alleluia Community. The team discussed the ministry of deliverance and exorcism as it pertained to Catholics and Protestants. We were then broken up into small groups to clear up any personal deliverance issues we had. This seems improbable. Why would charismatic and Pentecostal leaders need deliverance ministry? Actually, yes: the demonic attacks with special vehemence all Christian leaders. Often this results in areas of demonic infestations even among the most effective and sincere leaders. This manifests publicly when scandal breaks out, as when a famous leader is exposed for long-standing sexual or financial failures.

This year’s conference was one of the best I have attended. As always, the fellowship was a blessing, as was the hospitality of the Alleluia community. But the goal of the conference, reminding us of the orthodox resources of the Early Church was well met. I believe that many of the participants left with a better understanding of how the struggles of the early church can inform and strengthen the present Christian struggle against the various forms of heresy and weak faith that afflict many denominations.

Next year’s conference will be held at the same place, on Feb. 23-26.  If you are a church leader or elder and wish to come to next years’ meeting, contact Bob Garrett at, bobg@yeslord.com

PR

Notes

[1] Making creeds is something like making sausages, something to be celebrated but not nice to see. For a splendid and engrossing account of how Orthodoxy triumphed over Arianism see Philip Jenkins’ work, The Jesus Wars (New York; Harper Collins, 2010).

Emily Gardiner Neal in 1975.
Source: Wheaton Archives & Special Collections

Emily Gardiner Neal was born in 1911 to a well-to-do family and reared in New York City. She was educated at a private high school for girls in New York City and the David Mannes College of Music, also in New York. She intended to become a concert violinist. Emily’s parents were openly atheistic, and what Emily knew of Christianity was from hearsay. In 1930, Emily married a Naval Academy graduate, Alvin Neal. He too was an atheist. Emily later related that during their courtship they spent many hours talking about the possibility of God’ existence – a sign of their religious longings.

After his required time in the peace-time Navy of the 1930’s, Alvin became a businessman and moved his family to Argentina and later the Netherlands West Indies. But before the beginning of World War II, the family returned to the United States and settled in Pittsburgh. At the outbreak of the War, Alvin reentered the Navy and served as an officer aboard the aircraft Carrier USS Ranger.

How she became a Christian and an anointed minister of healing prayer is an amazing story of God’s providential choreography. In 1954, her neighbor asked her to drive her to an Episcopal church for a healing service, as her own car was in repair. Emily did the favor and stayed for the service. What she saw utterly amazed her, there seemed to be several instant healings, including a large goiter disappearing. Despite what she had seen, Emily suspected some sort of fraud in the healing service and determined to carefully examine the issue of spiritual healing with all of the reporting and critical skills she had developed. Her objective was to expose as fraudulent the healing claims being made by Christian healing ministers of the era.

The diagnosis had been based on an extensive series of X rays, bronchoscopy, and sputum tests – all positive. As a result, the patient scheduled for resection of five ribs and removal of the affected lung.

Shortly before the operation was to be performed, the patient attended a healing service and claimed a cure. When returned to the hospital for final examination prior to surgery, a repetition of the previously conducted tests revealed no evidence of lung cancer. He was dismissed from the hospital, and is today in robust health. The medical explanation was, again, mistaken diagnosis.[5]

On one occasion Alvin accompanied Emily to an interview of a patient cured of cancer. Emily related what happened in the car after the interview: “I heard Alvin clear his throat and say: ‘You know, there may be something to this work you’re doing, after all. Did You notice the radiance – the strange luminosity of that man’s face? I don’t know how to explain what I felt in him. All I’m sure of is that that man been touched by something I don’t know anything about.’”[6]

Alvin came to fully support her healing ministry.

Mrs. Neal’s book, A Reporter Finds God should be considered among the top dozen works in the literature of Christian healing. Her concern for the skeptically minded of her day was manifested in her careful attention to the data of documented healings and her methodical procedures. Her story of leaving skepticism behind would be an eye opener to today’s generation of skeptics.[7] (Hint: it would make an excellent gift to a skeptical/agnostic relative or friend – readily available at used book sites).

A Reporter Finds God was immensely successful, it was reprinted at least 15 times by 1965. After its launch Emily decided to learn more about Christianity, not just the healing ministry. She entered seminary and completed a degree in theology. Mrs. Neal then attended the Pittsburgh Pastoral Institute and was permitted to take courses open only to clergy, such as pastoral counseling. In fact, she became an effective and active Christian counselor for the rest of her life.

Shortly afterward, Mrs. Neal was invited to her first healing mission in Wisconsin. There she was asked to participate in the laying on of hands. It was the first time for her. Her respect for the Church’s authority prompted her to phone Bishop Pardue, her bishop in Philadelphia, to ask what to do – he gave her permission to do so, and this began her personal healing ministry.

In 1957 the editor of Prentice Hall asked her to write her second book, and the result was God Can Heal You Now, which came out in 1958.[9] Mrs. Neal’s orthodoxy and healing anointing was widely recognized and requests to speak and to lead healing missions poured in. This served to distance her from her career as a successful magazine writer. She tried to resist the pull away from being a reporter which she enjoyed doing and had done so well. But the love of the Lord drew her to His work. The Lord Is Our Healer [10] was published in 1961 and her recognition as an outstanding author and speaker of the healing ministry continued to grow.

Along with three bishops, three priests, and two physicians she served on the Joint Commission on the Ministry of Healing appointed at the 1961 General Convention of the Episcopal Church to study the Church’s ministry of healing. The Commission’s report, which strongly affirmed the reality and need of the Church’s healing mission, was submitted to the General Convention of 1964, was unanimously approved by both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies. This proved to be a boost to the prestige and acceptability of the healing ministry among Episcopal clergymen. Of course, the report was no guarantee that the liberal-Sadducaical clergymen, of which there were many in the Episcopal Church, would accept or act upon the report. As it turned out, the Episcopal Church continued to be a denomination where many of its churches had no healing ministry at all and mostly continued their journey to destructive liberal theologies.

In 1966, she was asked by The Rev. Dr. John Baiz to lead weekly healing services and counsel at Calvary Church in Pittsburgh. This she did for ten years, along with traveling widely on missions throughout the United States and abroad and continuing to write books about healing prayer. Mrs. Neal’s theology has many parallels with the that of Mrs. Agnes Sanford, and much influenced by her work. For instance, Emily practiced inner healing prayer in her counseling ministry. Mrs. Neal also followed Mrs. Sanford in appreciating the value of sacramental confession in healing. Also, like Mrs. Sanford, Mrs. Neal welcomed the charismatic renewal and its boost to the healing ministry, but like her mentor expressed reservations about its sometimes over-exuberant manifestations.[11]

The works of these two women overlapped and might be classed among the first generation of orthodox Christian works on healing that were readily available to the public. True, the whole generation Anglican/Episcopal clergymen and women such as Pearcy Dearmer and Ethel Banks had done great work, as did the multiple Pentecostal healers from the 1900s on. But they published in the era before WWII, when most American cities did not have even a single bookstore, and books had to be ordered by mail, thus their works were limited in circulation. But in the post-War era, bookstores and the paperback industry exploded and the book of Mrs. Neal and Mrs. Sanford were able to reach mass audiences.[12]

Mrs. Neal moved in 1976 to Cincinnati, where she lived on the grounds of the Convent of the Transfiguration, an Episcopal community of nuns. She was ordained a deacon in January 1978. In Cincinnati, she served on the staff of St. Thomas Episcopal Church as Deacon, leading weekly healing services and counseling. At the Convent she also functioned as deacon and led a monthly healing service and counseled weekly. In 1987, the Episcopal Healing Ministry Foundation was formed. This allowed Mrs. Neal and several of her Episcopal friends to specifically carry out the work of training and equipping Episcopalians in the healing ministry. She served as its president until her death on September 23, 1989.

PR

This chapter is an excerpt from William De Arteaga, Anglican Healing Awakenings: Saints, Heroes, and Villains (Christos Publishing, 2024). Used with permission.

Notes

[1] Emily Gardiner Neal, A Reporter Finds God Through Spiritual Healing (New York Morehouse-Barlow,1956). To date there has been no book length biography of Mrs. Gardiner Neal. I have depended for biographical information on two sources, Anne Cassel’s brief article in Sharing, “Emily Gardiner Neal’s Story,” (Dec. 1989) 18-22, and the biographical fact sheet found at the archives of Wheaton College, “Emily Gardiner Neal.” https://archives.wheaton.edu/repositories/5/resources/1019 Sourced 1/10/2024.

[2] Mrs. Neal’s numerous books are readily available on Amazon and on online used book sites such as abebooks.com. A very useful anthology of her Christian writings is Emily Gardiner Neal, Anne Cassel, ed. The Reluctant Healer: One Woman’s Journey of Faith (Colorado Springs: Shaw, 1992).

[3] William James, Varieties of Religious Experiences (New York: Modern Library, 1902).

[4] See my discussion of this in my work, Agnes Sanford and Her Companions, Chapter 23.

[5] Neal, A Reporter, 37.

[6] Emily Gardiner Neal, In the Midst of Life (New York: Hawthorn, 1963). 23.

[7] See for instance “Forward to a skeptic,” in: Emily Gadiner Neal, Where There is Smoke; The Mystery of Christian Healing (NY: Morehouse-Barlow, 1967) 5-14.

[8] I have written extensively on the pivotal importance of Mrs. Sanford and her writings. See The Pneuma Review articles which summarize my work on her. “Agnes Sanford, Apostle of Healing,” The Pneuma Review, Posted June 15, 2016. http://pneumareview.com/agnes-sanford-apostle-of-healing-and-first-theologian-of-the-charismatic-renewal/

[9] Emily Gardiner Neal, God Can Heal You Now (Englewood-Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1958).

[10] Emily Gardiner Neal, The Lord is Our Healer (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1961).

[11] Neal, Our Healer, 39.

[12] WWII changed that through the massive publication of quality books as cheap paperbacks for the GI’s and created a large reading public. Applebaum, Yoni. “Publishers Gave Away 122,951,031 Books During World War II” The Atlantic, September 10, 2014. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/09/publishers-gave-away-122951031-books-during-world-war-ii/379893/

The newly released movie, Cabrini, is the story of St. Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini. She was an Italian nun who immigrated to New York in 1888 to serve the destitute Italian immigrants streaming into America. Their social and economic position was even lower than the Irish immigrants who were beginning to move up in society.

Orphaned Italian children lived in unspeakable squalor in the cellars of rundown apartment buildings, and Cabrini’s first task if to establish an orphanage for such children. After success in that project, she moved on to found one of the great hospitals of New York City to specifically serve the poor immigrants of the city. She accomplished all of this despite tremendous opposition from secular and religious sources. The Catholic Archbishop of New York wished to banish Mother Cabrini back to Italy because she was upsetting his delicate balance of power (and accommodations) with the WASP [White Anglo-Saxon Protestant] establishment of New York. All of this is presented with marvelous cinematography and wonderful acting. Mother Cabrini is played wonderfully by an experienced Italian TV star, Cristiana Dell’Anna, whose steely eyes and iron determination face down every obstacle, and opponent—including the powerful mayor of New York.

Cabrini is a great film, but spiritually flawed. Mother Cabrini is pictured as woman who accomplished magnificent things through strength of character, intelligence, and unwavering determination. All of that is correct, but it excludes the element of prayer from her life and that of her nuns. Behind every major obstacle overcome, for instance, the arson of her hospital, there were her prayers and those of her nuns that were not shown. The sisters had a rule of life that mixed works, as in aiding teaching and nursing the poor, with prayer. The former was shown in detail, but the latter ignored. The name of Jesus is not mentioned in the film even though her religious order was called “The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” and they had great devotion to Him. Mother Cabrini becomes then a model feminist of the modern, secular sort. This is a distortion of her life. Her determination and intelligence and actions were empowered by a prayer life that made miracles of timing, political influence and favor shown in the movie.

I recommend that all Christian see this movie, but keep in mind there are other aspects of the story that have not here been told.

Reviewed by William De Arteaga

Official website: https://www.angel.com/movies/cabrini

The editor, Robert W. Graves is a Pentecostal scholar and president of The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship. This non-profit encourages Pentecostal/Charismatic authors, with awards for excellent new works. Mr. Graves has had a long-standing passion to defend Charismatic and Pentecostal claims of the present-day activity and gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The topic of the book, a rebuttal of cessationism, is both important and sad. It is sad because many good Christians still dispute the reality of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor 12–14) in the life of the contemporary church. This is over a hundred years after the Azusa Street revival and over sixty years after the Charismatic renewal burst among mainline churches. The suspicion and resistance to the operation of these gifts came under renewed attack in recent decades by the popular and influential ministry of the Rev. John MacArthur. His radio ministry and multiple books have lambasted gifts of the Spirit as bogus and their practice as heretical. This reviewer has had the honor of being the object of his critical comments with an entire chapter criticizing my work.[1] In fact Mr. Graves edited an earlier volume of essays dedicated to responding to MacArthur’s cessationist best-seller, Strange Fire.[2]

The Kingdom Case against Cessationism has a forward by Dr. Craig Keener, currently the most well-known and distinguished Charismatic New Testament scholar. The book is made up of 12 chapters by various authors, several of which are widely known and respected, such as Randy Clark and Michael Brown. But all are distinguished scholars in their fields.

The articles are uniformly excellent, and I found Randy Clark’s contribution, “The Inaugurated Kingdom of God–Now and Not Yet,” particularly useful. The same for Mr. Graves’s contribution, “Cessationism and the Struggle for the Promises and Commands of Jesus.”

The Kingdom Case against Cessationism contains three essays by Jon Ruthven, whose death has been a serious loss to Pentecostal scholarship (and to whom this book is dedicated). They were taken from his PhD masterpiece that also produced On the Cessation of the Charismata.[3]

The Kingdom Case against Cessationism has an index of persons as well as an index of biblical citations and ancient church sources. It is especially valuable to pastors and church leaders who have people in their congregations who still hold to the cessationist view. It is a handy source of biblical answers to the folly and “heresy” of cessationism. Mr. Graves is to be commended for his scholarly and useful work for the Charismatic/Pentecostal churches.

Reviewed by William De Arteaga

Notes

[1] John MacArthur, Reckless Faith (Crossway, 1994).

[2] (Nashville Thomas Nelson, 2013) See Strangers to Fire: When Tradition Trumps Scripture (Tulsa: Empowered Life Academic-Harrison House, 2014). [Editor’s note: See the Strange Fire roundup at PneumaReview.com: “Are Pentecostals offering Strange Fire?” See also the PneumaReview.com interview with Strangers To Fire editor Robert Graves and reviews by Tony Richie, John Lathrop, and further reflections by Jon Ruthven.]

[3] Jon Ruthven, On the Cessation of the Charismata (Tulsa: Word and Spirit, 2010). [Editor’s note: See Amos Yong’s review of Jon Ruthven: On the Cessation of the Charismata.]

This year’s topic of the CLF was to be “Flooding the Darkness with Light.” Several of the speakers and discussions strayed out of topic and centered on the issue of Church unity and ecumenism, a fine topic indeed, but one covered last year. Left uncovered was any mention of spiritual warfare – which most certainly will be the theme of next year’s CLF meeting.

The woman playing the violin is Ladonna Taylor, who has a special anointing in her music.

Two speakers were especially instrumental in shaping the course of the meeting and acting as vehicles of the Holy Spirit. The first was the Rev. Carolyn Moore. She is a Methodist pastor who has led the exodus of many orthodox Methodist churches out of the United Methodist Church and into the Global Methodist Church. Her presentation of the separation from the UMC especially touched me as I, as a former Episcopalian, was forced to tread the same route into the (orthodox) Anglican Church in North America.

Moore’s presentation was pertinent to many in the Church today. She described the decline and division of the UMC as the result of the ascendancy of Liberal theology which at its root denies the divinity of Jesus and the trustworthiness of scripture. For those embracing this movement, pluralism and inclusivity became more important concepts than upholding the unique claims of Jesus as the Son of God and Savior and other doctrines essential to Christianity. A great insight she shared was that ecumenical dialogue is good for the Church, as Christians get to understand and appreciate Christians in other denominations, but pluralism crosses the line into heresy by claiming that all viewpoints are equal and thus truth is unobtainable. This happened to the UMC (and to the Episcopal Church decades earlier).

Praying over Rabbi Marty

The second speaker and the one who made the greatest impact was Rabbi Marty Waldman. He refuses to call himself a Christian, rather he calls himself a Messianic Jew – a true Jew who believes in Jesus as his Messiah and the New Testament as part of the Word of God.

If you are a Christian leader of any stripe, pastor, youth leader, blogger, etc. make plans to attend next year’s CLF. They are held in late February, but check out the CLF website at CharismaticLeadersFellowship.org

Attendees for the CLF came from all over North America and many parts of the world. This year there was a heavy presence of Polish charismatics as well as the usual Brazilians and Italians. It is always a joy to fellowship with these beloved “foreigners” who are brothers and sisters in Christ. I would not be telling readers anything new if I said it is easier talking and enjoying fellowship with a Polish charismatic with a heavy accent, than an unsaved American neighbor.

In a sense “receptive ecumenism” has been going on for quite some time without having a name. I can think of the loving atmosphere of the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship International, begun way back in the 1950s be Demos Shakarian. This group was a pre-cursor to the Charismatic Renewal, i.e., mainline Protestants accepting Pentecostal practices.[2] The bond of love and service of this group was not in the least disturbed by its multidenominational membership. Similarly, a half century of ecumenical cooperation to overturn Roe Vs. Wade in various pro-life groups, local and national, led to Protestants of all denomination mingling, cooperating, and loving Catholics – and visa versa. “Receptive ecumenism” was not the primary intention of these groups, but the (providential) result of their meeting together with common goals.

This is not to say that the CLF meeting was redundant. Good theology identifies and solidifies biblical truths, attitudes, and practices. For instance, bad or absent theology on the gifts of the Holy Spirit prevented Pentecostalism and Spirit-filled churches from forming for centuries even though many Christians spoke in tongues and individually practiced the gifts of the Spirit all through Church history.[3] The flourishing of the gifts of the Spirit in whole congregations had to wait for theologies that explained the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit. All of which is to say, formulating a theology of receptive ecumenism is important for it to further flourish.

The first speaker (session 1) the Rev. Pat Sparrow, made a starting affirmation that receptive ecumenism was the way to fulfill Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that we should all be one. The stumbling point is that most churches interested in ecumenism believe they are the model to show the way forward.

Session 2 was a joint presentation by Dr. David Cole and Mr. Nathan Smith, both heavily involved in Rome with Catholic-Pentecostal reconciliation and dialogue. They reflected that half a century of dialogue produced some progress in raising the respect level for one another. But a new attitude of humility and listening is permeating the situation, and this has resulted in Catholics and Pentecostals praying together, something unheard of decades ago.

Fr. Jim Puglisi brought an interesting historical perspective to the conference in the next session. His talk centered on the Syriac church (important in the Early Church). He pointed out that the Syriac Church valued greatly the Apostle James, brother of Jesus, and the tradition of community as the basis of unity. This is different from the Western church which early on valued Greek philosophy and “right theology” as the basis of unity. This of course led to the bitter division between the Western churches and the Oriental Orthodox churches.[4]

The next two presenters brought further historical perspective to ecumenicism. Fr. Timothy Cremeens talked about the lack of ecumenicism in the early church, as any deviation from established orthodoxy was considered as heresy – no dialogue possible. (Fr. Cremeens is one of the best loved regulars of the CLF. He is rector of an American Orthodox Church and is very charismatic. But his denomination does not look favorably on the gifts of the Spirit today. He soldiers onward.) Anthony Martin then gave us a brief history of the Reformation, and what went wrong to result in wars instead of dialogue between Protestants and Catholics.

Fr. Karol Sobczyk was the speaker for the next session (session 8). He presented a history of the Charismatic movement in Poland where the population is over 90% Catholic. In spite of this, he credited the mission of John Wimber decades ago in Poland for being a major impetus of the charismatic renewal, which is growing day by day.

Scott Kelso, who is the coordinator of the CLF, and very active in the ecumenical movement worldwide, gave an interesting take on how important prophecy is for the ecumenical movement. It moves persons out of their comfort zones and into obedience with God’s will, which is ultimately the unity of the Church. In the next session Dr. John Gresham gave us information about the origins of the term “receptive ecumenism.” It was coined by Dr. Paul Murray of the university of Durham. He organized the first meeting on the topic, and later published a book on it.[5] Gresham suggested several other seminal sources of receptive ecumenism.[6]

The next presentation was by two persons, a layman, Isias Carniero and Bishop Rodolfo Valenzuela, described the ongoing successes of ecumenism in Latin America. Brazil is an especially great example, and this year celebrates 50 years of dialogue and ecumenism between Evangelical and Catholics. For those of us like myself, who were born into pre-Vatican II Catholicism, this is a miraculous change. Well into the 1960s, Protestant missionaries in various parts of Latin America were harassed and even murdered by Catholic vigilantes who believed they were protecting the true faith.

At noon the attendees were bussed to Ascension Lutheran Church for an Ash Wednesday service. After lunch there were presentations by leaders of two covenant communities, Word of Christ and Alleluia, both describing how they managed and lived out their receptive ecumenism. Both communities were predominantly Catholic but Catholics in these communities cherished what they had learned from their Protestant brothers and sisters. Especially in the early days of the 1970s, the classic works of the Pentecostal and Charismatic renewal such as the Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson, and the cassettes of Derek Prince were seminal.

After dinner on Tuesday, there was a reception at an outdoor fire pit with several other Christian groups who were also present at the Alleluia community – alas, without marshmallows. The next morning opened with a powerful prayer and praise session which became a healing service. Many healings occurred and I personally received a healing for my hearing. This was followed by the last session, and my favorite.

The Catholic Bishop of Portland, Oregon, Peter Smith, spoke. He is noted for his orthodox theology and charismatic beliefs, and he jokingly introduced himself as the bishop of the “People’s Republic of Portland.” He noted that he created a rumpus in Oregon when he mandated that children in Catholic schools under his jurisdiction must be addressed by their birth names. What surprised me especially was his comment that when he hears confessions, he often says prayers of deliverance over the supplicant. This is a situation where deliverance prayer can be very effective, especially in sins of addiction.

The 2023 CLF was a great conference, and if you have a leadership position in any church or para-church organization, please join us next year.

PR

Notes

[1] For a better description of the CLF and the Alleluia community, see posting of the 2020 CLF in The Pneuma Review (March 30, 2020). /charismatic-leaders-fellowship-2020/

[2] William De Arteaga, Marvels and Signs: Quintessential Essays From an Anglican Pentecostal (Lee’s Summit: Christos, 2022) chapter 10, “Did the Charismatic Renewal Begin in 1950?”

[3] See Judith Tydings, Gathering a People (Plainfield; Logos International, 1977).

[4] On this tragic division see the work of Philip Jenkins, Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years (New York; HarperCollins, 2010).

[5] Paul Murray, Receptive Ecumenism as Transformative Ecclesial Learning (Oxford: Oxford University, 2022).

[6] See Andrew Wilson, Spirit and a Sacrament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018). [Editor’s Note: See the review by Rick Wadholm Jr.]

What’s been tickling your ears? Christian historian William De Arteaga argues that conspiracy theories undermine factual history and he offers practical advice to avoid falsehoods and grow in the truth.

But I tell you that for every careless word that people speak, they will give an account of it on the Day of Judgment. – Matthew 12:36 (NASB)

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.” – Matthew 15: 18-20

 Those who guard their lips preserve their lives,
but those who speak rashly will come to ruin. – Proverbs 13:3

“You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’ Regarding everything that this people call a conspiracy, And you are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. – Isaiah 8:12 (NIV)

America is plagued by conspiracy theories (CTs) now more than at any time in its history, and they seem to be gaining momentum.[1] Facebook, Twitter, and the tribalization of our news sources have aided this lamentable situation.[2] For instance, millions of evangelical Christians have come to believe in the QAnon CT. That is, the slanderous CTs based on nothing more than suspicions which claims that liberal elites abduct and kill children for sexual and satanic ritual purposes. Such persons as Hillary Clinton and Chief Justice Roberts are supposedly engaged in this Satanism.

Defining conspiracy theories

This chapter is adapted from William De Arteaga, America in Danger, Left and Right: Biblical Analysis, Actions and Intercessions for the Current Crisis (2022).

Let us start by trying to define what CTs are. They come in many varieties, but in general they are attempts to understand the world, or some negative aspect of it, through false, mythical, or incomplete knowledge. Often CTs are generated by combining a negative event with pre-existing suspicions against some group or person. Similarly, predictive CTs are stories based on suspicions that an evil group or person will do something evil. In CTs, suspicions are considered facts, and little or no attempt is made to verify the information on logical or normal evidential grounds. The anger, suspicion and distrust embraced by the CT believer (and his/her social group with similar beliefs) often diminishes logical reasoning or factual verification. Societies under stress often experience a rash of CTs when events in history begin to go against them. A recent example of this is the gaggle of CTs circulating in Russia during “Putin’s War” against the Ukraine, as in the belief that NATO wants to partition Russia.[3]

One especially tragic and sinful CT occurred over five hundred years ago during Europe’s bubonic plague (1347 to 1351). A rumor and CT spread among Christians that the plague was caused by Jews who poisoned the wells to exterminate Christians. This CT spread rapidly, and mobs all throughout Europe gathered up Jews by the thousands and burned them at the stake without any trial or evidence other than their suspicions. Many of the Jews who survived were looted of their goods and exiled out of Europe into Islamic Spain and other places. This corporate event was both a sin of slander and genocide – the “careless word” of the Bible in extreme. CTs about the Jews would continue to circulate for centuries, reaching their climax in the Nazi holocaust.

At the root of most CTs is an unbiblical assumption that history and current events should be understandable and go mostly one’s own way. If it does not, it is the result of a specific group of evildoers who make things go wrong. The Bible teaches to the contrary: mankind is universally afflicted with sin, and the outcomes in history are constantly molded by sinful, uninformed, foolish, and selfish choices by all peoples and governments. This results in the “wrongness” and chaos of normal history – that is, history without God’s intervening grace.

The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his   people and there was no remedy.  He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there (2 Chronicles 39:15-19).

But back to modern CTs, let me describe a conspiracy theory I saw generated firsthand back in 1974 and which is typical of many CTs. The background to this: At the time Israel had just fought the Yom Kippur War. For the first days it went badly for Israel, but the Israeli Army and Air Force counter-attacked and gained the ascendency. However, Israel almost ran out of ammunition and other vital supplies. President Nixon organized a massive airlift to resupply the Jewish armed forces and enable them to continue their successful counterattack.

At this time a colleague at my job, Bob (not his real name) went to visit relatives in Louisiana, and there observed a large refinery and tankers offloading oil (probably from Venezuela). On his return he told me the oil shortage was “bogus” and a plot by oil executives to artificially raise the price of gas. “There is plenty of gas out there for everybody.” He saw one large refinery still operating, but he had no access to the details of whether it was working at limited or full production. Neither could he see at the same time the millions of cars in the US refueling at hundreds of thousands of gas stations, nor did he have any way to calculate if that refinery could supply all of America’s needs (of course not).

But Bob felt sure he had the truth and felt that he was a wise person with true, firsthand information that proved the oil executives were greedy and evil. This was a cheap way to bolster his self-esteem since he was not a greedy executive but a “regular guy.” To the contrary, he slandered gas executives he did not know. Of course, some gas executives were greedy and sinful, as in any group of human beings, but it is not true that they created the shortage, nor did they artificially jack up the price of gas. Note the sequence: a “wrong” situation (higher gas prices and low speed limit), a suspect group (oil executives), a leap of logic, and behold: a new CT is born along with its attached speculative slander – the “careless word” that the Bible warns us against.

Earlier, when I was a high-school teacher at an Atlanta public school (1970-1973) and taught at a predominantly African American high-school, I heard several conspiracy theories from the students. Among them was the CT that has now gotten wide traction among whites and African Americans alike: the moon landings were faked and never took place. This CT was partially driven, I believe, by their observation and hurt that none of the astronauts or supporting scientists manning the consoles at mission control in Houston were African American, and therefore the event was of little interest or joy to them.

This was not a harmless CT. I noticed that none of my students had any special interest in space science, unlike white kids of the era. Becoming a good scientist usually starts young, with curiosity and a passion to learn how the world works, but the CT about the moon landings cut that off, at least in space science. I have wondered how many more African American space scientists there could be now if that CT not been developed and believed. There was an element of speculative slander (careless word) and deception here as this CT created an imaginary group of high-ranking NASA officials who did not have the integrity to say that the moon mission was not possible, and therefore created a photographic studio to fake the landings, etc.^[5]

There is another class of CTs generated by people’s inability to accept the normal chaos and caprice of historical events. For instance, the Titanic struck the iceberg that sank it due mostly to the fact that the duty officer of that night did not give the sailors on lookout duty the required binoculars. Many other dramatic turns and events in history have occurred by such careless and trivial actions. But humans are tempted to believe major events are all intended by important figures or groups engaged in conspiracies.[6] To the contrary, chaos and mistakes are an ever present constant in history (as in personal life).

Are some conspiracy theories true?

Let me say that not all CTs are false, although most are. Sometimes a CT points to something that is true but not widely recognized.[7] It is indeed a serious problem figuring out which are true or false.

Let me also make a distinction between a conspiracy and a CT. Conspiracies and secret alliances, big and small, have occurred and will continue to occur throughout all of history. The most infamous one was the conspiracy to secretly exterminate the Jews from Europe that was plotted and carried out by the Nazis in World War II. A conspiracy is a plot to do something by real people. A CT is a hypothesis or theory that a group is plotting or doing something destructive without direct evidence, or on speculative evidence.[8]

Biblical wisdom vs. conspiracy theories

A significant question: Why is it that so many of the books of the Bible are historical? That type of religious writings is rarely found in the Scriptures of other world religions.[10] Especially unique in the Bible are the historical books that repeat with different perspectives the same events, as in the Gospels in the New Testament and the books of Chronicles and Kings in the Old. What type of wisdom does God expect us to receive from historical books? These are important questions that we must keep in mind as we compare the Biblical view of history with CTs.

The historical books of the Bible stress man’s freedom and responsibility in obeying or disobeying God and His commandments.[11] God does not interfere in man’s freedom to obey or disobey, to be foolish, or work out of misinformation. Sometimes He works though mankind’s sin and foolishness to get His providential way. An example is found in the account of Joseph and his brothers.

We see the Biblical view of restoration work out in the Israeli exile and return from their captivity in Babylon. In fact, the captives were first enticed by a false prophet called Hananiah to believe that they would be immediately returned to Jerusalem. He was prophesying out of his “flesh,” as Paul would put it, and confused the people’s yearnings to return home for God’s prophetic word. His words pleased but misled the exiles. But Jeremiah put Hananiah in his place:

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord’” (Jeremiah 28: 15-16).

As a counter-point, Jeremiah wrote a letter to the exiles which really reflected God’s will and plans for them. It deflated heroic expectancy of the exiles. No hero would rescue them, the Babylonian king would not die in battle, etc. Instead, the true prophet had mundane but spiritually significant instructions:

This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:4-7).

The exiles obeyed the true word of God, settled, blessed and prayed for the local government, and awaited divine restoration. That came, as described in the same chapter of Chronicles which described the horrible fall of the Jerusalem, via an unexpected source, a pagan king:

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them’” (2 Chronicles 36: 22-23).

Conspiracy Theories are Counterfeit History

From the Biblical standard, CTs are counterfeit history. They rob persons accepting CTs of the wisdom one should have in reading and understanding historical situations or relating them to present crises. Persons under the sway of CTs, Christian or not, are encouraged to believe that the elimination of an evil group and the triumph of a “good” faction will bring about peace and harmony. In effect, politics is confused with messianic expectations. Christians who buy into CTs believe they must give divine providence a helping hand. They want the offensive group or faction removed or exterminated so that the golden age may come forth. That dream might be, as Donald Trump supporters wish, an America where the Left is reduced to impotency and America returns to the conservative interpretation of the Constitution. Similarly, a Left-leaning might dream of an America free of Republican and “fascist” policies with a socialist economic and political system.

Well, guess what?

How to resist conspiracy theories

The harm of CTs range from being the sources of genocide as in the CT that the Jews caused the Black Death in the Middle Ages, to less destructive ones such as the CT that the Moon landings were bogus. But now, a potential disaster is looming if the 2024 election hangs in the balance of what happens in a few swing states. Pro-Trump Secretaries of State and election boards may believe it is their patriotic duty to correct the supposed wrong of the 2020 election and give Trump an unearned victory. That could push the country to some destructive civil disturbance or even civil war. This would be Satan’s delight and the practical end in America’s role as the model and protector of democracy in the world.

Image: Mel Poole

Less catastrophic but also bringing great evil is the ongoing ability of modern CTs to make it difficult for societies to establish simple base lines of truth and facts. This makes the rise of authoritarian societies attractive to many, as such regimes have the power to limit incoming information and CTs, and thus limit the divisions in society (while also limiting the ability to receive a corrective truth).

For Christians, embracing CTs are sin because they make slanderous accusations of the imagined villains (Matthew 12:36). Christians who hold to CTs are also subject to various distortions and detours in their Christian walk. For one, they acquire a sense of superiority over the other folk who do not believe in their specific CTs. They view themselves as having superior wisdom and discernment (recall Bob and his CT about the 1974 fuel shortage) when in fact the opposite may be true. The believers in QAnon are a case study of this. Not only do they take part in cycle of slander, they waste a great deal of time in the pursuit of clues about who is supposedly abusing children. Besides being sinful, this is time that could be used for creative good.

Spiritual progress into Christian discipleship demands the humility to know we are all sinners and fallible in our opinions. Our political views are marred by our limitations in discerning which news stories and sources are more accurate and which are mostly false. In many mono-political churches in the United States, CTs of one sort or another are believed by practically everyone in the congregation. This makes a critical evaluation of CTs not only difficult, but even grounds for being dis-fellowshipped if not believed. These churches will typically have less empathy for Christians of opposite political leanings. This leads to less communication and cooperation in areas where the church should be united. In short, CTs function as one more tool for Satan to use in further dividing an already divided Church. All of the above are great gains for Satan, for the weakening of the American nation and the weakening of the authority and prestige of the Evangelical church.

How to personally resist CTs

If a person is confused about what to believe in the present atmosphere of information overload, specifically which stories may be true or destructive CTs, let me suggest the following:

Pray that God give you the wisdom and discernment in distinguishing between an item of information that is a false CT and one that may be true. (We have noted that a few CT, often denied by reputable sources are true). Remember that a “careless word” is a sin of slander and displeasing to the Lord, even if many of your friends believe and spread it.

Understand that history does not go our way. The 20^th Century was the American century. The 21^st Century may not be an American Century unless there is transformative revival.

All persons, including Christians, are more susceptible to CTs as they give themselves the license of “hate thinking and talking” of their adversaries. As Christians we should recognize that hatred towards others is a sin, which includes thinking hateful thoughts against our political enemies (Matt 5:43). Thoughts such as “I hate Nancy Pelosi and everything she does.” This hate thought can be substituted with, “I believe Pelosi is seriously wrong in her politics and they are harmful for our Country.”  You can then pray for her, as in “Lord, guide her out of error into truth.” That would be a great prayer for any politician and in line with what Paul advocated (1 Tim 2:1-3).

One needs to come to an understanding that opposition is not hypocritical and evil but works out of differing assumptions. For instance, I have heard some Christians say things like, “Pelosi is an absolute hypocrite. All she wants is absolute power.”  Well, let’s leave the character judgement of hypocrite up to God. But Pelosi is acting and politicking on assumptions that are common and perfectly reasonable to Democrats but alien to Republicans, as in, believing government can solve most problems. That may be true, or false and destructive, but believing that is not hypocritical.

Vigorously abstain from sourcing radio, TV programs, and web sites that have been proven to spread CTs – as for instance the programs of Alexa Jones. Don’t look at them even for fun.

Cultivate an attitude of humility towards knowing the truth or asserting as true things that are not clearly true. Here Paul is a great example. He was arguably the person in the New Testament who received the most direct revelation from the ascended Jesus. Based on those revelations he wrote authoritatively, as in his letter to the Romans. But when an item of controversy was encountered that was not covered by Scripture or Jesus’ revelation to him, he expressed his opinion in tentative way, allowing the reader to understand that this was not firm revelation. An example is found in Paul’s response to some questions that arose in the Corinthian Church about marriage and problems of separation from a non-believing spouse. Paul is careful to state that what he says is not based on Jesus’ revelation but has a certain amount of wisdom, and the reader can exercise certain options (1 Corinthians 7:8-39).

Practice the words of humility when a news item or story is new and not fully vetted. Using such words as “perhaps, maybe” or the phrase “I will wait for more information” are great ways to sidestep a story that may be a slanderous CT. Of course, certain professions and lines of work demand decisions and actions well before the full facts are known, as in a policeman acting on a tip that may or not be true. For most of us, items of the political or culture wars should be areas where we use the language of humility to express our views.

Be aware that the phrase “everybody knows” most often refers to opinions held by one’s own group. For instance, in Woke circles “everybody knows” Trump is a fascist. In Conservative circles “everybody knows” Pelosi is a socialist, etc. A reminder, in the Middle Ages, “everybody knew” that the Jews poisoned the wells and produced the Black Death.

If you hear a story about your political enemies, and you would like to believe it, as in, “Pelosi is a paid Chinese agent,” because that would confirm your distrust of the Democrats, be suspicious. Express any opinion on that in the subjunctive, “Maybe the story is true, maybe not.”  That makes it easier to back off if the story is proven bogus.[14]

PR

This article has been adapted from “Conspiracy theories and the negation of history” from America in Danger. For an earlier version of this article, see “The Sinfulness and Destructiveness of Conspiracy Theories.” Used with permission.

Notes

[1] Jeffery Goldberg, “Conspiracy Theorists are Winning,” Atlantic Monthly (May 12,2929). https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/shadowland-introduction/610840/

[2] This chapter is a reworked version of an article I wrote for Pneuma Review, “The Sinfulness and Destructiveness of Conspiracy Theories,” Posted June 29, 2015. http://pneumareview.com/the-sinfulness-and-destructiveness-of-conspiracy-theories/ A useful Christian source is Rich Nathan’s article, “Why Do so many People Believe Conspiracies?” (Accessed April 20, 2023). https://www.richnathan.org/post/why-do-so-many-people-believe-conspiracies

[3] Ilya Yablukov, “Putin Used Conspiracy Theories Before, Now He Seems to Believe Them,” New York Times (April 25, 2022). https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/25/opinion/putin-russia-conspiracy-theories.html

[4] God’s judgement is a topic not often dealt with by modern theologians, but an excellent recent work on the issue is Steven J. Keillor’s God’s Judgments: Interpreting History and the Christian Faith (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2007).

[5] SCI Network. “The Truth Behind the Moon Landings,” TV program aired July 2019 which systematically demolished the pseudo-science behind the CT that American astronauts never walked on the moon. Also, the Wikipedia article, “Moon landing conspiracy theories,” gives a splendid summary of the theory and how it has been debunked by independent third parties. Verification of the moon landings include pictures from new, high-resolution telescopes which can identify the various lunar landers which are still on the moon.

[6] Jared Knott, Tiny Blunders/Big Disasters: 39 Tiny Mistakes that Changed the World (Duluth: Jefferson Central, 2020).

[7] Ross Douthat, “Jeffery Epstein and When to Take Conspiracies Seriously,” New York Times (Aug. 13, 2019). https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/opinion/jeffrey-epstein-suicide.html

[8] A historical note: Frederick the Great of Prussia suspected that there was a conspiracy between Austria, Russia and France to partition Prussia between them. He had no proof, so it was his CT. He preemptively attacked Austria on his suspicion, and many believed he was an aggressor. However, in the 20^th Century archival research revealed that Russia, France and Austria were indeed planning an attack. They had a conspiracy against Prussia. History if often complex.

[9] Most scholars of the history of historical writings (“historiography”) would reverse this and say that the West’s robust historical writings comes mainly from its Greco-Roman tradition with further developments especially in the early modern period. I hope to elaborate my dissident view that the Biblical influence is preeminent in a future book. For now, I would refer the reader to the classic study of historical method by the English Christian scholar: R.G. Collingwood’s The Idea of History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956) part II. Collingwood shows that Christian historical writing introduced the concept of character development or decline, a concept not found in the classical Greco-Roman writers who believed in set character via the stars, i.e., astrology. It is also important to understand the seminal work of Mircea Eliade’s, The Myth of the Eternal Return: Cosmos and History (Princeton: Princeton University, 1955) in which the Eliade points out the critically important contribution of the Jews to history, that of linear history (non-repeating). See also, Thomas Cahill: The Gifts of the Jews (New York; Nan L. Talese: 1998), and the classic work by Herbert Butterfield, The Origins of History (New York: Basic Books, 1981). For use in a Christian school or adult Sunday school I strongly recommend John Fea’s Why Study History? (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013).

[10] The scriptures of other religions often have founder’s tales, but nothing to compare to the systematic history found in books of Kings or Chronicles.

[11] A modern Pentecostal classic on this is Jon Mark Ruthven’s work, What’s Wrong With Protestant Theology (Tulsa: Word and Spirit, 2013).

[12] Incidentally, this definitively disproved the John Birch’s conspiracy theory (for more on this, see America in Danger, chapter 11) that Truman, Eisenhower and other US presidents were presiding over a conscious conspiracy to turn the world over to the Communists. Rather, they employed the policy of containment, first articulated by the diplomat George F. Kennan, which urged that the Communist nations be contained but not attacked, proved true. Kennan foresaw that Communist society would fall apart in time. However, that was not totally true. Communism’s fall was brought forward by pressure from the West, as in President Regan’s “Star Wars” anti-ballistic missile program, and spiritual forces loosed by Pope Paul II. On the latter, see George Weigel’s, The End and the Beginning: The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy (New York: Doubleday, 2010).

[13] Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History,” National Interest (Summer 1989).

[14] For more hints, from a secular viewpoint, on how to protect oneself from fake news and CTs see, Julie Jargson, “How to Tell Fact From Fiction, Even During War.” Wall Street Journal (Mar. 5, 2022) https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-spot-fake-news-even-during-a-war-11646434626

In the Old Testament, we are shown how God sent prophets again and again to warn Israel of its impending destruction if it did not repent of its idolatry. Tragically, the prophetic warnings were not heeded, the Temple was destroyed, and the Jews had to suffer defeat, exile and humiliation (2 Chr 36:15-20).
Similarly starting in the 19th Century, scholar prophets have warned the American Church that liberal theologies in their various forms were gutting the Church and leading it into forms of secular idolatry. Among those who filled the prophetic role was Machen J Gresham’s Christianity and Liberalism (1923) and John Warwick Montgomery in his classic The Suicide of Christian Theology (1970).

Against these tendencies, Dr. Kelso posits a renewal of the church to be both prophetic and discerning. Discerning in a renewed ability to see into the unseen spiritual world. Prophetic in declaring, like the Old Testament prophets, the evil of idolatries (false ideologies) but doing so with the New Testament concern for speaking prophecy in love. Dr. Kelso also advocates a rebirth of the spiritual virtue of the fear of the Lord (chapter 5) – not a popular subject of sermons.

I recommend this work and I believe it could be especially useful as a book read and discussed in adult education and sharing groups.

Reviewed by William L. De Arteaga