The exclusively digital edition of The Pneuma Review, Fall 2015 (18:4).

Some of what you will find in this issue:

Logic on Fire: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, reviewed by R. T. Kendall

That the life of Jesus may be manifested: An interview with Dan Izzett

Veteran Youth Pastor, Jeff Grenell, introduces five keys for mentoring young leaders in “My Ceiling, Their Floor”

Rediscovering Jesus, reviewed by Martin Mittelstadt

William De Arteaga: Agnes Sanford and Her Companions, reviewed by Jon Ruthven

Missionary-scholar Jim Harries discusses the difference between the biblical categories of clean and unclean, holy and common in “Holiness in African Perspective”

Find all of these articles individually in an easy-to-read format on the archive page: http://pneumareview.com/fall-2015/

Full issue coming soon.

Dave Harvey, “Lessons on Church Planting from the Prince of Preachers” Crossway (August 19, 2015).

Jim Harries, “Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism are NOT ‘religions’” LinkedIn.com Pulse (September 22, 2015).

In this new article, missionary-scholar Jim Harries challenges the idea of what “religion” is. A brief study in otherness.

Chad Graham, “What I Got Wrong About Being Pentecostal: Learning about God through daily devotions, not just revival experiences” Vital (September 23, 2015).

“As a Pentecostal, I desire to see the movement grow wide and very deep.”

“Negative Spiritual Beliefs Associated with More Pain and Worse Physical, Mental Health” Mizzou News (September 23, 2015).

“…when people firmly believe God loves and forgives them despite their shortcomings, they had significantly better mental health.”

Brandon Showalter, “Two Years After Strange Fire” Patheos (October 7, 2015).

“It is heartbreaking to be misunderstood, especially when you try to talk about the things of the Spirit.”

Marc Cortez, “Toward a Pentecostal Hermeneutics” MarcCortez.com (April 23, 2014).

Rick Wadholm Jr. writes: “A great summary article by Marc Cortez covering Kevin Vanhoozer’s paper at last year’s Wheaton Theology Conference: Toward a Pentecostal Hermeneutics.”

Karl Vaters, “Six Church-Insider Issues I Don’t Care About Any More: I used to waste a lot of time arguing over these issues. Now? Meh. On some things, apathy is the best policy” Pivot (October 14, 2015).

Karl Vaters, “Six Church-and-Culture Issues I Don’t Care About Any More: The church needs to build bridges to the culture if we hope to reach it. But there are some bridges I won’t cross any more” Pivot (October 21, 2015).

Joel J. Miller, “Oprah and the trouble with our DIY spirituality” Ancient Faith (October 21, 2015).

Ben Myers, “A tweet for every volume of Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics” Faith and Theology (October 23, 2015).

Need a super-quick introduction to Barth? “[T]weet-summaries of Barth’s Church Dogmatics.”

Jerry Scott, “Five Steps to Reading and Understanding the Bible: Getting the most out of the Scripture is no easy task” Vital (November 2, 2015).

Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner, “How Christians Can Flourish in a Same-Sex-Marriage World: By many accounts, orthodox Christians have lost the culture wars. How they can live well—not vanish—in a time of retreat” Christianity Today (November 2015).

Gerson and Wehner call American Christians back from the brink of despair and bitterness and offer a way forward. A panel of three respondents fills out the November 2015 cover story:

Gabriel Salguero: “Why Settle for the ‘Wilberforce Option’ When We Have Dr. King?: There is a model for cultural engagement that doesn’t depend on power and privilege.”

Rod Dreher: “Coming to Terms with a Post-Christian World: Our culture is radically rejecting Christian faith; our response must be radical, too.”

Shirley Hoogstra: “Faithfulness and Bridge-Building Go Together: Our cultural influence begins with faithfulness to the Cross and Resurrection of Christ.”

Roger Olson, “Is the Bible ‘Inerrant’ or ‘Infallible’?” Patheos (November 5, 2015).

Professor Olson briefly summarizes the contrast between the two terms and discusses how differences over inerrancy have become a battleground for evangelical scholars.

Eddie L. Hyatt, “Joy to the World: Compelling Historical Evidence for the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ” Global Christian Awakening (November 29, 2015).

Dr. Hyatt briefly takes a look at five claims: the virgin birth was documented by a physician and world-class historian, affirmed by modern archaeology, an agnostic professor of mythology is convinced, predicted centuries in advance by Old Testament prophets, and believed universally by the earliest Christians.

Cletus Hull, “The Task of the Cross in the Life of a Pastor and Scholar” Biblical Life Institute (December 1, 2015).

Cletus Hull writes, “My blog as professor of New Testament at Biblical Life Institute in Freeport, Pennsylvania.”

Frank Viola, “3 ingredients for having an amazing 2016” Frank Viola Unfiltered (December 3, 2015).

Martin Mittelstadt “Is God’s Will Simpler Than You Thought?: If you want to find God’s plan for your life, quit overthinking” Vital (October 27, 2015).

William P. Atkinson tackles the controversial issue of the supposed spiritual death of Jesus from a firm Pentecostal perspective, being an ordained minister in the Elim Pentecostal Church in the UK. He spent seven years as the president in his denomination’s theological college, and is presently associated with the London School of Theology.

This book under review won the annual book award from The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship. When one reads through it, it is easily observed why this distinction was given.

At the very beginning of the book, the author lets you know where he stands, and the conclusions to which he has arrived. Taking the theological appraisal farther than any previous research to date, Atkinson counsels that Pentecostals would experience unnecessary damage by adopting this aberrant theology, and thus be drawn away from the foundations of traditional Christianity. His advice is to reject the bulk of the teaching of JDS (Jesus Died Spiritually).

Because the teaching of JDS is central to the Word of Faith, this book, in a sense, also serves as a critique of that movement. The Word of Faith movement cannot be classified as a single denomination, but nevertheless has greatly influenced Pentecostals throughout the world by means of their mass media techniques (TV, radio, publications, Internet, etc.). Who can calculate the number of independent, Pentecostal or charismatic churches that have embraced these teachings? This spread of inaccurate interpretations is an obvious concern to the author.

In particular, Atkinson focuses on three individuals: E. W. Kenyon, Kenneth E. Hagin and Kenneth Copeland. Kenneth E. Hagin is the main person who initiated the Word of Faith movement, leaning heavily on the writings of E. W. Kenyon. Kenneth Copeland is still alive and continues to advance this teaching. These three men have articulated the JDS doctrine the most comprehensively and to more of an extent than any of their followers.

Indeed, many of their disciples have picked up on this teaching and taught it in different measures, even modifying it. But the basic foundations have been strongly laid by these three men. Many people have unconsciously assumed this teaching, thinking it is orthodox.

Atkinson insists that this whole theological stance only serves to misrepresent the incarnation, the role that Satan played in the crucifixion, and the events that transpired between the cross and the resurrection.

Was Jesus Really Born of a Virgin? is one of a series of little books produced by P & R Publishing that examines questions often asked by unbelievers and even believers. The series is called Christian Answers to Hard Questions. This particular booklet focuses on the supernatural origins of our Lord’s birth. It is short but it is comprehensive.

Brandon Crowe begins by stating briefly the biblical case and notes that we are really talking about “the virginal conception” of Jesus, rather than the virgin birth. He then considers and answers various objections. These include: the “Scientific”, the “Philosophical”, and the “Mythological” objections. At the end of each is a section “Before We Move On”, which asks questions about what has just been said. Through this method readers are able to immediately review what they have read.

It is common for people today to object to the virgin birth on the grounds that such a birth is scientifically impossible. But, as Crowe points out, believers in the first century, including the writers of the Gospels, were not ignorant of the only method of procreation and to them Christ’s conception was a most believable miracle. In fact, as Crowe says, “The issue rather is whether God is able to work above and beyond the laws of nature … to accomplish his purposes.” To that the author responds that He is.

Crowe also shows that the virgin birth was a common teaching in the early church. In other words, it was an early part of Christian tradition. He mentions the writings of Ignatius, Aristides, Justin Martyr, Melito of Sardis, and Irenaeus, who all referred to it in the second century A.D. It was also a feature of the so-called Apostles’ Creed.

Brandon D. Crowe is assistant professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia).

After dealing with the objections, Crowe moves on to examine the biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In doing so he stretches his purpose a little to examine other issues in the birth narratives, but he retains his primary focus on the supernatural nature of Christ’s birth.

It is striking that the two accounts of the birth of the Lord Jesus in Matthew and Luke are quite different. Crowe argues that the two writers were being “selective” in their choice of the material they used (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit), but that their accounts are not “contradictory”. For example, one has Jesus visited by shepherds, the other has Him visited by wise men. One has a message from angels, the other has a guiding star. They have different features, but they are not contradictory.

One of the few aspects of the birth story that both Gospels tell us is that Jesus was born of a virgin. That vital detail is strikingly common to both. While some may regard the doctrine of the virgin birth as unimportant, these biblical writers seem to have considered it most significant. And so should we.

Jesus was the Son of Man and the Son of God, and the virgin birth, virginal conception if you prefer, was the means by which He came to us and became one of us.

This is an excellent booklet on this subject, which would be a great help to those who have doubts about the virgin birth and for those who underestimate its importance.

Reviewed by David Malcolm Bennett

Publisher’s page: http://www.prpbooks.com/book/was-jesus-really-born-of-a-virgin

When Jesus poses the question, “who do you say that I am?” he receives an array of answers from his disciples (Mark 8:27-28). Today, responses to this inquiry remain legion. Enter David Capes, Rodney Reeves, and E. Randolph Richards (CRR). Finally, they have the answer! In roughly 250 pages, they promise “an introduction to Jesus that guides us [their readers] on our pilgrimage toward seeing Jesus truly” (back cover). CRR title the final chapter of their book “Our Jesus,” their synopsis of the Jesus they hope their readers will (re)discover.

In this review, I offer my own questions. Are the tour guides reliable? Did they guide us well? Are they worth the money? Have they led us to the “true Jesus”? In short, I think so. I find much to appreciate in this work. For the most part, “their Jesus” resonates well with “my Jesus.” And since I am also a tour guide of sorts (I teach New Testament Literature, Gospels, New Testament Theology, Luke-Acts), surely I lead people on a journey to the true Jesus. At the same time, though we share much in common concerning our Jesus, I must address a methodological concern and a few alternate paths.

First, these guides bring solid credentials and experience. Capes, Reeves, and Richards serve as New Testament (NT) professors at their respective institutions (Houston Baptist University, Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO, and Palm Beach Atlantic University). They have a solid history of scholarly work in their discipline including an earlier shared work titled Rediscovering Paul[1] and various publications as individual authors. Given their credentials, I turn to the current work.

In part one, the authors walk their readers through the NT and pose Jesus’ question to each NT writer. They begin with Mark, who announces that Jesus is a healer, an exorcist, and miracle worker in a hurry to get to the cross. His Jesus is an average teacher, often difficult to understand, and a bull in a china shop, repeatedly under the skin of the religious leaders. Matthew’s Jesus provides answers to Jewish questions about messianic expectation. His Jesus has an impressive pedigree, speaks with confidence and courage, and offers not only aggressive answers to ongoing questions on Mosaic Law, but fills the role of a new and better Moses. Luke’s Jesus takes his disciples on a long journey of discipleship (compare Mark’s Jesus); the Third Gospel’s Jesus turns the world upside down as a first-century social advocate for the poor, the downtrodden, women, and children all the while preparing his disciples for a similar future ministry. Then there is John’s Jesus. His Jesus produces signs and speaks with clear self-awareness and confidence about his relationship to God.

William De Arteaga has created a ground-breaking, major contribution that is foundational to the evolving understanding of the Pentecostal/charismatic movement projected to reach 811 million in only four more years.

The author offers a surprisingly sympathetic narrative of one whom he regards as the foremost, and ultimately, most influential theologian of the charismatic renewal, a woman nonetheless maligned as a “new age” heretic, Agnes Sanford.

De Arteaga’s work employs two metaphors to express its thesis that Sanford’s ministry overcame cessationism (the “Galatian bewitchment” 3:1-3, replacing the miracle power of God with human effort), by a series of “Marcion shoves” (a reference to a heretic pushing a truth into error in order to bring that truth to the attention of the mainstream). In Sanford’s case, hers was a trial-and-error sampling of various contemporary positions on healing, being dialectally “shoved” into a thoroughly biblical understanding.

In the early 1930s, the loudest voice against healing, however, was the heretical consensus doctrine of Protestantism of that time: cessationism, that is, miracles of healing simply do not happen today. Sanford began her God-given quest by having to reject the “Galatian bewitchment” of her cradle faith, Protestantism. In this De Arteaga showed how Sanford, in the total vacuum of Christian biblical scholarship on healing, was compelled to search a variety of fringe groups for any possible insight into the truth about the healings she had received from God. Through all this, Sanford held to the centrality of Jesus and his scriptures, but only gradually, with no help from the church, discovering how central was healing to the biblical mission and message of Jesus and the New Testament.

Agnes was the daughter of Presbyterian missionaries in China, educated in the US, who as an adult continued their ministry back in China briefly until she met and married an Anglican missionary, Ted Sanford. Against the growing destabilization of China by competing warlords in the 1920s and by the insurgent communists, the new family moved to the USA to minister in Anglican churches near Philadelphia. Upon the healing of her baby son of a severe ear infection and of her own deep depression by a fellow Anglican clergyman, Agnes Sanford’s life course was set. It was discerned that her depression derived from “violating her God-given nature” by trying to be an excellent housewife instead of the writer and minister of healing that God had called her to be.

At this point, since the Christian tradition at that time was unanimously cessationist (the “Galatian bewitchment”) Sanford decided to test (ever alert to the “Marcion shove”) the variety of competing ideologies on healing, Christian Science, occult “science,” spiritism, “New Thought,” New Age, etc. against the “standard” of Jesus described in the four Gospels.

Since she had personally experienced such miracles, Sanford’s curiosity was drawn to the only voices of the time, who seemed to affirm what she had seen so clearly. She skimmed Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health but found “it did not make sense.” She twice attended a “Christian” spiritist séance, “carefully keeping an open mind,” but discovered the leader himself was plagued by spirit-induced headaches. When Sanford prayed for the spiritist’s sick mother, she found herself in “deep depression” and “could taste in [her] own mouth” the foul odor on the breath of the spiritist. On top of that the spiritist’s mother immediately died. Sanford promised the Lord that she would “never go near a séance again.” Unwittingly, she came to understand that her prayer was mixing the “energy” of the demonic with that of the Holy Spirit. Thereafter, she would screen out for special attention and prayer anyone who admitted to involvement in spiritism. Despite her strict and clear repudiation of her experiment with “Christian” spiritism, critics pounced on her account as evidence of her “demonic” ministry, instead of it serving as a “Marcion shove” toward biblical truth. Sanford’s “scientific” and biblical process of “Do not quench the Spirit . . . test all things, hold fast to that which is good” (1Th 5:19-20) proved inflammatory for her critics.

In the recent work, From Nothing: A Theology of Creation, Ian McFarland aims to defend and develop the classic doctrine of creation ex nihilo by arguing that the doctrine of creation from nothing is best understood in a Trinitarian framework. The author asserts that God alone is uncreated and that all creatures outside of Him find their existence in Him. Further, through Jesus, the incarnate Logos, all of creation has been drawn into the life and love of the Trinity.

This work is primarily ordered around two main parts, “Exitus” (chapters 2-4) and “Reditus” (chapters 5-7), but also includes a considerable introductory chapter (chapter 1) and a brief conclusion (chapter 8). The argument he asserts in support of his position begins in his first chapter through surveying exegetical, historical, and contemporary issues relevant to the Christian doctrine of creation. McFarland explains that the doctrine of creation from nothing is essential to agree with Scripture’s assertion that there is one God who is the lone source of all things. Further, the author concludes that examining what God does is inseparable from knowing who God, which has implications for the doctrine of creation. For this reason, Christians cannot talk about creation apart from Christology. Thus, for McFarland, Christology is central for a doctrine of creation as it guarantees that God’s power is not understand as totalitarianism or whim (p. 23).

McFarland then turns to the first part of the book, focusing on the claim that the world is embedded in the life of God. Taking from the statement, “God creates from nothing”, in part 1 McFarland constructs his first three chapters exploring “God”, “Creates”, and “Nothing”. In chapter 2, God is characterized as transcendent, living, productive, and present. These attributes all function within the understanding that God is ultimately defined by the love shared relationally between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Therefore, this framework makes it fitting that God should create, “since creation is simply the act by which God, who is already intrinsically living, productive, and present, determines also to be living, productive, and present to that which is not divine” (p. 57). This leads to the third chapter where the author affirms on the one hand that creatures reflect the Logos, but are on the other hand entirely distinct from it. McFarland argues for the seemingly incongruous notion that finite creatures are utterly dependent on and yet not less thoroughly discontinuous with God by stating that the unity of creation can only be established in the Logos, thus God not only created the world, but created it from nothing. Chapter 4 then builds on this idea by way of the doctrine of the incarnation. For McFarland, the incarnation is the “definitive exemplification” (107) of the principle that nothing limits God, and is the key to a Christian understanding of creation from nothing. Through the incarnation, God has chosen to include creation within God’s own life and through extension, the works of redemption and glorification.

God has written a message to His Church in these last days through the lives of the underground church movement in China. I Stand with Christ is a historical narrative of the life of Zhang Rongliang which tells a story the western church needs to hear. This book chronicles Zhang’s struggle through China’s Cultural Revolution and as he states in the last chapter, “My story is not just the story of Chinese Christians – it is the story of China.”

This book is a gripping read that will astound the western Christian with an individual’s courage and devotion to Christ through intense persecution. Not only does Zhang overcome his adversaries by his devotion to the blood of the Lamb and the persevering word of his testimony, but because he did not love his life even unto death (Rev.12:11). Zhang spent the majority of his life in prison for his faith yet became a central figure in growing the church in China. Zhang explains that, “The church in China did not crumble under persecution – it thrived. It didn’t grow in spite of suffering – it grew because of it” (p. 230). 1 Peter 4:19 tells us that there is a suffering according to God’s will while doing good, and this book chronicles that struggle.

Zhang’s courage, devotion and vulnerability is inspiring to say the least. The story takes you through the years of heartache, pain and suffering as Zhang endures intense persecution as a faithful witness for Jesus. His devotion to Christ despite the painful separation from his wife, children and fellow believers is moving. The hero of the story is Christ, His faithful intercession on behalf of His people.

This book should inspire western believers to understand the value and devotion of being united in the body of Christ. Zhang is driven for his love of the family of Christ and winning the lost unto that body. There are many departures from the western mindset that would do the church well to understand. I believe the story of the Chinese Church was written by Jesus to instruct His church for this hour of history. Reading I Stand with Christ is a primer for the last days.

The only critique I have is that the story becomes a little tedious concerning Zhang’s persecutions. I would have enjoyed hearing more revelation and insight that Zhang gained from Christ. There are so many gems in this book concerning the revelation of Jesus and His body. All in all, this book tells the story of the sustaining power of Christ through persecution and God’s sovereign plan for the Church to overcome in these last days.

Reviewed by Tim Tyler

Preview I Stand with Christ: https://books.google.com/books?id=7zzeCQAAQBAJ

There are innumerable presentations, articles, and books being written on the subject of the Millennials and the Church. These angles include the Church’s lack of connection with the Millennials and the Millennials lack of interest in the Church. Or, more specifically, the approach recently presented in an article by Joe Hepler in Vital Magazine, “Four Ways To Connect With College Students In Church.” While reading this article, I find simple insights that could assist the Church to see from the collegiate Millennial’s perspective. The author is recently out of College himself and offers a unique look at the topic at hand.

The reason for the article is stated clearly in the title, the intent being to connect with college students “in Church.” The practicum offered by Hepler in the first point of his article is on point. It makes sense that if college students are studying at a College or University near a Church of choice, they have some level of interest in academics and growth. Capitalizing on that interest to increase their spiritual formation is noteworthy.

Image: Inbal Marilli

In the last point that Hepler makes concerning involving college students in leadership positions or roles in the Church, the structure and phrasing of the paragraph is a bit ambiguous. I sensed he had much more to say on this point but the article was rushed at this point. Still, his point is a good one. He uses the statement, “Many will give their hearts and souls to the churches they attend during college, and still many more may stay long after they have earned their degrees.” There are many avenues to developing young adults to lead in the local Church, including those that can be used with a transient crowd such as college students. Hepler seems to be leaning toward patience in discipleship, waiting before involving them. This is definitely the safest way to assure that they are quality leaders of integrity and understand the mission of the Church once they do get involved and lead.

Reviewed by Jeff Grenell

Read the full article: https://vitalmagazine.com/Home/Article/Four-Ways-to-Connect-with-College-Students-in-Church/

A valuable insight into a book can often be gained through reading the introduction, where you may find the author’s original purpose and mindset for putting pen to paper (or, in the twenty-first century, fingers to keyboard). This proves to be true in the case of Jim Croft’s book as well. In the very first paragraph of his introduction, Mr. Croft expresses his concern over what he calls a “perplexing enigma” that seems to exist in the lives of many Christians, a dichotomy between Sunday living and Monday-Friday living:

Many believers have the impression that the primary way that they can please God is to fill their lives with as many overtly religious activities as possible…. During church services, they glow with the vibrant confidence that they have heavenly approval. It is as though they believe that they are fulfilling the zenith of life’s purpose solely when they are singing hymns, testifying, and listening to sermons. The enigma is that when life’s necessities call them to be occupied with other equally legitimate pursuits, the quality of the confident glow that they have heavenly approbation seems to mysteriously wane (p. vii).

Mr. Croft sees this enigma as being expressed (at least in part) in the fact that statistics indicate that there seems to be little difference between Christians and non-Christians, when it comes to such areas as the escalating divorce rate and the increasing use of prescription and over-the-counter medications for depression. Why do so many believers in Christ turn to the same methods of escapism as non-believers? This is a question that has haunted the thoughts of Christians everywhere, laypersons and leaders alike.

Jim Croft

One of the contributing problems, according to Mr. Croft, is the perpetuation of the distinction between one’s “spiritual” life and “secular” life, which keeps Christians from experiencing the abundant life that Jesus promised his disciples:

Biblically there is no such division [between the secular and the spiritual] because all aspects of life are described as spiritual, even though they are not all primarily religious. God’s divine influence and pleasure can be experienced in every arena of life, though every arena may not be overtly religious in its content and exercise (p. viii).

Charismatic Superstitions & Misconceptions is Mr. Croft’s answer to this dilemma. He seeks to examine and refute the kinds of teachings and doctrines that contribute to this unbiblical dichotomy between the secular and the spiritual.

However, the seventy-nine doctrines and beliefs that Mr. Croft examines left this reviewer wondering, “What does this have to do with the enigma presented in the introduction?” For example, some of the “superstitions & misconceptions” that Mr. Croft considers are: “There is no such thing as the Trinity” (p. 6), “All religions are basically similar in that they all worship the same God” (p. 88), and “The Bible gives hints that there could be validity to belief in reincarnation” (p. 89). While it is indeed important for such beliefs to be examined according to God’s truth revealed in the Bible, such doctrines do not really have anything to do with a “secular vs. spiritual” dichotomy.