“Can Josh Harris Kiss His Book Goodbye?: Twenty years after his dating bestseller, he reconsiders its controversial arguments” Quick To Listen (July 10, 2017).

In this 41 minute podcast, the former megachurch pastor associated with the charismatic Calvinist fellowship Sovereign Grace discusses how he is reconsidering some of his book’s arguments and perspectives. Harris says, “In certain ways, I Kissed Dating Goodbye was the equivalent of relational health and wealth.”

Kevin J. Vanhoozer, “Catholic but Not Roman: To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, the ‘Reforming Catholic Confession’ calls Protestants to unity” Christianity Today (October 2017), pages 64-65.

Kevin Vanhoozer introduces “The Reforming Catholic Confession: A ‘Mere Protestant’ Statement of Faith to mark the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation.’” A summary of the confession appears in the October issue of Christianity Today, and an invitation: “To read the full text of the confession with a historical and theological explanation, or to add your name to the list of signatures, visit reformingcatholicconfession.com.”

Roger E. Olson, “The Legacy of the Reformation in Contemporary Evangelicalism” Patheos (September 17, 2017).

“Evangelical historian and theologian Donald W. Dayton, a Free Methodist, rebelled against this evangelical self-narrative in the 1980s and 1990s, publicly criticizing it in the pages of Christian Scholar’s Review, an evangelical scholarly journal jointly published by about fifty Christian liberal arts colleges and universities. Dayton labeled the Marsden-Noll-Ramm majority evangelical narration of evangelical history the ‘Puritan Paradigm’ and argued for an alternative narration he labeled the ‘Pentecostal Paradigm.’ This was at a time when the largest denomination in the NAE was the Assemblies of God and the second largest was the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee). Dayton argued quite cogently that evangelical history and theology was being unfairly dominated by Reformed historians and theologians and Calvinism was central to that one-sided narrative of evangelical history and theology. He also argued cogently that evangelical history, theology and spirituality have been just as much influenced by Pietism, revivalism and Pentecostalism and that the Wesleyan contribution to evangelicalism was being ignored or at least neglected by the likes of Marsden, Noll and Ramm.”

Costi Hinn, “Benny Hinn Is My Uncle, but Prosperity Preaching Isn’t for Me: As part of the family empire, I lived a life of luxury. Then doubts began to surface” Christianity Today (October 2017).

J. Lee Grady, “Watch Out for the Virus of Spiritual Pride” Fire In My Bones (September 6, 2017).

Rachel Gilson, “I Never Became Straight. Perhaps That Was Never God’s Goal: Why I embraced the Bible’s sexual ethic before I understood it” Christianity Today (October 2017).

William De Arteaga says, “This is the best piece I have seen on the Christian and same sex attraction.”

Charles Kraft has taught at Fuller Seminary and has served as a missionary in Nigeria. In addition to these ministries he has also written a number of books including: Christianity With Power: Your Worldview and Your Experience of the Supernatural, The Evangelical’s Guide To Spiritual Warfare: Scriptural Insights and Practical Instruction On Facing the Enemy, Defeating Dark Angels: Breaking Demonic Oppression in the Believer’s Life, and I Give You Authority: Practicing the Authority Jesus Gave Us. This brief sampling of titles indicates that the topics of spiritual power and spiritual conflict are subjects of great interest to him; he has written about them a number of times. This, his newest book, also deals with the subject of spiritual conflict or spiritual warfare, specifically the power encounter.

The author says that the term “Power Encounter” came from the late Alan Trippett who was a missiologist at Fuller Seminary (page 1). Kraft describes a power encounter as “an encounter or confrontation between false gods and the true God” (page 3). Trippett reported that this type of encounter brought large numbers of people to Christ in the South Pacific when they saw that the Christian God was superior to their ancestral gods (page 1). Conversions took place when a priest or chief challenged the ancestral gods and broke their allegiances to them and the ancestral gods could not respond (page 2). Kraft points out that power encounters are now widely accepted by missiologists as valuable in the work of evangelism (page 2). Also in chapter one, he draws from a couple of Trippett’s reports about power encounters in the South Pacific in order to illustrate what they are. Kraft says that some power encounters are unsought but others, such as those in the Bible between Moses and Pharaoh, and Elijah and the prophets of Baal and those in the South Pacific, were sought in that they were open challenges (page 10). The author does not point out the events from Scripture and the South Pacific for merely historical purposes. He believes that the church today, like Jesus and the early church, ought to exhibit spiritual power such as we see in the Bible which includes healings and deliverances (page 15).

Read articles by Charles Kraft at PneumaReview.com

In chapter 2, Kraft surveys a number of power encounters in Scripture, drawing examples from both the Old and New Testaments. These are clearly conflicts between good and evil, some of the ones he mentions include: Moses and Pharaoh, Elijah and the prophets of Baal, Jesus and Satan in the wilderness, and Paul and the demon-possessed girl in Acts 16. In chapters 3, 4, and 5, Kraft sets forth principles related to spiritual warfare. One very important point he makes in chapter 3 is that many in the West tend to view most spiritual beings and spiritual power as the things that fairy tales are made of (page 32). This can be true with reference to both the supernatural power of God and of the enemy (pages 32-33). This is what is sometimes called the anti-supernatural Western mindset. At least in part, this book seeks to serve as a corrective to that error. In chapter 5, Kraft is clear that though there is a kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God, the rulers of these kingdoms are not equal; God is much more powerful than Satan (page 48).

PneumaReview.com speaks with Eugene Bach, a spokesman and leader of the Chinese mission movement, Back to Jerusalem, about their vision and the amazing things they have seen God do as they carry the good news to the world’s most restrictive places.

Please tell our readers where and when the Back to Jerusalem Movement began.

The Back to Jerusalem vision is a call to the church in China to take the Good News to the unreached nations between China and Jerusalem. It was independently birthed over 90 years ago in two separate locations in China – Shandong Province with the Jesus Family and then later on with the Northwest Spiritual Movement and the Back to Jerusalem Evangelistic Band from central Henan Province.

What is the vision of the Back to Jerusalem Movement?

Quite simply, The Back to Jerusalem vision is nothing more than the Great Commission given by Jesus in Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:18-19. The Back to Jerusalem vision is the commission given to the church in China to join the efforts of the global Body of Christ to evangelize the lands between the walls – the restricted nations between the Great Wall of China and the Western Wall of Jerusalem.

The vision is bigger than a ministry. There is a ministry called Back to Jerusalem, but it does not own the vision.

The vision is bigger than any denomination. There are many denominations involved in the Back to Jerusalem vision – from conservative Amish to charismatic Apostolics – but the vision does not belong to any denomination.

The vision is bigger than any personality. There are several well-known believers involved in the Back to Jerusalem vision, but not one of them owns it. It is not a personality driven vision.

Eugene Bach with Pastor Zhang Rongliang

The majority of the Chinese involved in the Back to Jerusalem vision today come from very simple uneducated agrarian backgrounds. They reject titles and only refer to themselves as brothers and sisters. Even the most senior pastors in the traditional underground house churches with millions of believers, who have embraced the BTJ vision, only wear the simple title of brother or sister.

What types of ministries does Back to Jerusalem support? In addition to Bibles, what other resources do you supply?

With more than 2,000 active Chinese Back to Jerusalem missionaries working in the land between the walls, it can only be said that we actively support a smorgasbord of activities that cause trouble in nations that are currently closed to the Gospel. Those activities range from missionary training, mission exposure, missionary support, ministry equipping, and platform creation through business, disaster relief, humanitarian aid, or education.

Other resources include emergency aid during disaster relief efforts, business training and investment, alternative energy units, and a variety of electronic communication tools.

Rick Wadholm Jr. gives a short review of the 2017 sessions of the Society for Pentecostal Studies during the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature.

I was privileged to attend three of the Society for Pentecostal Studies sessions during the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Boston, Massachusetts on November 18-20, 2017. The three sessions were excellent examples of ways that Pentecostal scholarship continues to advance Pentecostal concerns and to engage the wider scholarly community as such. The sessions were all engaging and well attended (with the rooms either filled to capacity or very nearly). The attendees were not only Pentecostal scholars, but also those who had interest in the paper presentations and themselves engaged (sometimes for a first time) with the Pentecostal/Renewalist scholars presenting. SPS provides a wonderful opportunity for Pentecostal scholars and scholars of Pentecostalism/s to participate in conversations within the academy and to further research in a multitude of avenues (as evidenced by the presentations laid out all too briefly below).

From left to right: Van Johnson; David Hymes; Meghan Musy.

Which one is God’s Word? Are all three equally Scripture? Let’s take a closer look to see what sets each one apart from the other two.

The United Bible Societies’ compilation, now in its fifth edition, is the base-text of several modern translations, such as the New International Version, the New Revised Standard Version, and the English Standard Version.  Occasionally the translators deviated from this base-text, but such instances are exceptions.

It has been said that the Byzantine Text is a more accurate version of the Textus Receptus. Though this statement is imprecise, it may help the average person get some idea of the similarities between the two. After the Textus Receptus was compiled in the 1500’s, many more manuscripts became available. In 1982, when Hodges and Farstad published the Majority Text, their compilation provided the text represented by the consensus of known Greek manuscripts, thus setting aside minority-readings contained in the Textus Receptus.

Why are there two editions of the Byzantine Text, with differences between them?  In Matthew through Jude, there are some textual differences where the evidence is closely divided, and occasionally (especially in John 7:53-8:11) textual differences involve more than two alternative readings; in some cases, no single reading can claim support from a majority of the manuscripts.   In the book of Revelation, the number of differences between the Hodges-Farstad Majority Text and the Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform is especially high, mainly because Robinson and Pierpont took identifiable manuscript-families into consideration, rather than simply printing whatever reading had more manuscripts in its favor.

About 1,500 minor differences occur between any edition of the Textus Receptus and either edition of the Byzantine Text. All three major compilations – the Textus Receptus, the Byzantine text (whether represented by the Hodges-Farstad Majority Text, or by the Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform), and the UBS/Nestle-Aland text – agree over 95% of the time. Many readings within the remaining 5% have no discernible impact on translation.

However, some disagreements strongly impact translation – including readings in the Alexandrian tradition which appear to express errors, or which diverge from very early patristic testimony, or which do not support the deity of Christ to the same extent as the Byzantine alternative. Where such readings occur – such as in Matthew 27:49, Mark 6:22, Mark 10:24, Mark 16:9-20, Luke 22:43-44, Luke 23:34, John 7:8, John 7:53-8:11, First Timothy 3:16, and First John 4:3 – even some of the English translations that are mainly based on the UBS/Nestle-Aland text adopt the Byzantine reading, or mention it in a footnote, to compensate for the Alexandrian manuscripts’ shortcomings.

Some of the deeper issues at stake involve the question of the origin of the Byzantine Text.  The manuscript-evidence for the Alexandrian Text is older, but that may be merely an effect of the low-humidity climate of Egypt, which allowed manuscripts made of papyrus to survive longer there than in other areas.  Patristic and versional evidence demonstrates the use of an essentially Byzantine form of the text of the Gospels in the 300’s – the same century in which the two most important Alexandrian manuscripts, Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, were made.  Were those patristic writers and early translators using a novel form of the text, or a form that had been handed down to them from yet more ancient times?  In addition, because most Greek manuscripts (over 80%) tend to agree at any given point, some might say that this shows that if any text has a special claim to have been providentially preserved for the church, it is the Byzantine Text.

With this brief introduction to the issue at hand, we encourage students of God’s Word to weigh the evidence as they build, or test, their convictions on this subject.
 

The mother and son team of Verna and James Linzey wrote this article together.

Sarah Bowling is the daughter of the Rev. Wallace and Marilyn Hickey. She joins her mother as a co-host and Bible teacher on their worldwide daily television program, “Today with Marilyn and Sarah”. She was educated at Oral Roberts University, the University of Missouri, and Denver Seminary. Sarah founded an international nonprofit organization to provide resources for children in need called Saving Moses. She and her husband, Pastor Reece Bowling, also co-pastor Orchard Road Community Center and live near Denver Colorado with their three children.

This book was written to provide a practical guide to navigate the Christian life. She provided some really good contemporary metaphors in this book that our modern-day culture can relate to. Bowling wrote a lot about her relationship with the Holy Spirit and she spends a great deal of the book discussing her own experiences and how the Holy Spirit has taught her how to live everyday by his leading. She also talks about things that could hinder the Spirit’s work in our lives. She stressed that the Holy Spirit is relevant and necessary for all Christians to navigate the Christian life. Bowling offers reassurance of the Holy Spirit’s desire to be part of our every circumstance. I really enjoyed the prayers and discussion questions that were at the end of each chapters, they helped me to focus on the theme presented in the chapter. She gives some biblical examples that were fresh. I particularly appreciated her take on Thomas and how his doubt disappeared when he encountered the supernatural, risen Christ. She shared that it is encountering the supernatural Holy Spirit that will erase our doubts also.

I did have a conflict on page nineteen where Bowling wrote that the Holy Spirit helps us to be our best self. I believe the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit forms Christ in us and it is that transformation that needs to take place, not just an improvement of self (Romans 6:6, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:13). The Holy Spirit is truly our heavenly helper, but his help is to eradicate the works of the flesh and to produce the character qualities of Jesus in our lives.

I could really sense her teaching gift coming through in the second half of the book, which I gleaned much from. She has a wonderful way of using the Bible to teach spiritual truth. Overall, I think this is a good book that could be uses in a small group study for those who have a knowledge of the Holy Spirit already.

Reviewed by Robert Bushman

Publisher’s page: http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/in-step-with-the-spirit/385470

What can Christians today learn from the successes and failures of Christians in the first fifteen centuries of the breaking out of the Good News of Jesus the Christ? This article by historian Woodrow Walton is an Epilogue to The Gospel In History series.

With apologies to the Gregorian Calendar, A.D. 28 is selected as the date of the Resurrection of our Lord. Fifty days after the Resurrection, at the time of the festival of First Fruits, also known as Pentecost, the power of the Holy Spirit fell upon Jesus’ disciples. They were now His apostles and Peter became the lead spokesman. When Peter proclaimed Jesus as both “Lord and Christ,” there were among his audience visitors from countries bordering the Persian Gulf, lands approximate to the Caucasian and Kurdistan mountains, westward to Libya in northern Africa, and from what is now Turkey onward along the northern Mediterranean coast to Rome and beyond.

This article is part of The Gospel in History series by Woodrow Walton.
Image: The Books of Kells by way of Wikimedia Commons.

The Gospel spread quickly into the Mesopotamian-Tigris plains, northward beyond Antioch, and crossed the Aegean Sea into the Balkans and on to the Italian peninsula. It went westward across the whole extent of the North African coast fronting the Mediterranean. Acts 2:9-11 enumerated thirteen different geographical locales from Elam, bordering Iran, to Cyrene close to present day Benghazi, Libya.

This expansive geography from the Persian Gulf to the western edges of Africa indicates the eventual spread of the gospel from western Asia to the western edges of the Roman empire. The early Christians spread across this expanse within a matter of seventy-two years. The flourishing of individual Christian communities from east to west within a relatively short time occurred without benefit of motorized conveyances. The initial thrust was from Jerusalem to Damascus in western Syria and then along the Tigris-Euphrates valley. The martyrdom of Stephen initiated a spread northward. The ministry of Philip the deacon spearheaded the thrust into the upper reaches of the Nile Valley, Egypt. Out of Libya and Cyprus were the initiators of the church in Antioch, and out of Antioch into what is now Turkey. Who are these travelers who speak of Jesus who is said to be “Lord and Savior?”

That the Christians presented a gospel, not a religion, was a novelty and went against the grain of the dominant cultural mentality who adhered to a belief in gods and different philosophies of life. Who is this Jesus?

The fact that the Christian communities or groupings did not frequent the public baths and other major public arenas of activity raised suspicions as to who they are and what they represented. To use a phrase coined by the late John Stott, these Christians were counter-cultural and represented another way of life by their exclusiveness from the rest of society.

Church historian William De Arteaga introduces an important but often forgotten figure that God used to prepare many for the Charismatic Renewal.

J. Rufus Moseley

If there was no Rufus Moseley, there might not have been a Charismatic Renewal. Born in 1870 and died in 1954, J. Rufus Moseley was one of the most important, but largely forgotten evangelists for Pentecostalism. Without his ministry and influence, perhaps the Charismatic Renewal would not have occurred, or at least not in the 1960s-1970s.

Moseley brought Pentecost to the mainline churches indirectly, but decisively, by his work through several para-church organizations. Birthed in the 1930s, these organizations formed in reaction to the stultifying anti-supernaturalism and cessationism of mainline Protestantism. During the 1920s and 1930s, theological liberalism was at its height. The shift was so strong, so unrelenting that many Christians were even doubting the effectiveness of prayer.[1] That was the natural outcome of living and being taught in cessationist churches where no one saw a miraculous healing or supernatural event because no one prayed in faith for those things.

During this era of spiritual drought, four para-church organizations were paramount in upholding the Biblical understanding of prayer, the veracity of the Bible, and the present manifestations of the miraculous and healing prayer. They were, the Christian Ashram Movement of Eli Stanley Jones (1884–1973), Dr. Albert Day’s Disciplined Order of Christ (Methodist), the Rev. John Gaynor Bank’s Order of St. Luke (originally Episcopalian), and especially, the Camps Furthest Out (CFO), an interdenominational group founded by Professor Glenn Clark.[2]

Moseley added a Pentecostal dimension to these groups. His Pentecostalism was not based primarily on a study of classical Pentecostal writings that came out of the Azusa Street Revival, but on his own dramatic experience with the resurrected and glorified Jesus in 1910. It was a “mystical” encounter. Some Evangelicals are suspicious of the word, but all it means is a direct and intimately personal spiritual experience.[3] Moseley’s experience was very similar to that of the great 19^th Century evangelist Charles Finney – it was a sudden, unexpected immersion and union with the Risen Lord. After Moseley’s encounter with Jesus he manifested the gifts and fruits of the Spirit to an unusual degree. He lived a life of anointed teaching, sacrificial love and generosity that impressed all who met him.

A life of preparation

J. Rufus Moseley was born on August 29, 1870 into a devoutly Christian farming family in the mountain town of Elkin, North Carolina. His father, a veteran of the Civil War, had a reputation for absolute integrity and kindness in all his dealings. Rufus recounted:

When he offered for sale, or in trade, a horse or a mule, he first told its faults to the full. When he took a load of watermelons to sell, he sought to have the larger ones at the bottom instead of the top.[4]

For more information, please use my contact information or email me.

I sure hope you can come!

All of us at APTS wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous New Year,

Dr. Dave Johnson
Director, APTS Press

Introverts in the Church was first released in 2009. The book caught my eye back then because I am an introvert. I reviewed the first edition of the book for Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s Africanus Journal. The author, Adam McHugh, is a Presbyterian minister and a self-confessed introvert. He knows from observation, study, and perhaps most importantly personal experience, how people perceive and react to introverts. He thus writes as an “insider;” he is well aware of the tendencies, challenges, strengths, and weaknesses of introverts.

In the foreword, Scot McKnight sets the stage for some of the material discussed in the book. He gives a couple of examples of church practices that can make introverts uncomfortable. He refers to the “passing of the peace” (a sort of “greet your neighbor” moment) and standing, raising our arms, and singing in the worship service. He says that introverts probably did not initiate these practices in church life. It may be news to some parishioners that these practices can make introverts uncomfortable.

McHugh has a good sense of humor. The reader becomes aware of this in the preface of the book when he mentions a number of the working titles he played with for the book, the titles are “Introverts in the Hands of an Extroverted God,” “Girl Meets Introvert, Keeps Looking,” and “Left Behind, and Happy About It.” All of these titles hint at the idea that introverts are to some degree either unimpressive or unusual. In an extroverted world they seem “different.” In reality many people, including introverts, see introverts in this way.

Most people are a blend of both extroverted and introverted qualities; however, usually one of them is more dominant.  In the course of the book McHugh highlights some of characteristics of introverts. For example, introverts are energized by quiet, by being in solitude with little or no interaction with other people. Introverts also process things internally. Calling attention to the differences between introverts and extroverts in this regard McHugh writes “extroverts speak in order to think, whereas introverts think in order to speak” (page 42). In addition, introverts tend to have fewer, but deeper friendships and fewer and more focused interests. Because of these traits introverts are sometimes perceived to be self-focused or narcissistic. In chapter 5, the author offers some suggestions to help introverts reach out to connect with others.

McHugh affirms that God made some people to be introverts that they have value and have much to offer to the church. One thing that introverts offer to the church is a “longing for depth” (page 76). Some of their other commendable qualities are: creativity, loyalty, service, and the fact that they generally have a calm disposition. In fact, with regard to service they tend to like ministries that are done behind the scenes. That being said, McHugh writes that introverts can also be involved in ministries that one might typically expect to be done by extroverts. He maintains that introverts can do evangelism and be involved in leadership in the church. With reference to evangelism he offers suggestions of ways that introverts can evangelize that are more in harmony with their personality.

After reading this book those of us who are part of the Pentecostal/charismatic church may wish to reflect on how we do church. Do any of our practices make introverts uncomfortable or alienate them? I am not here suggesting that everything be changed to accommodate one part of the church. Rather, armed with the information in this book we might ask ourselves if we could be a bit more sensitive to the introverts in our midst.

Introverts in the Church is a very valuable resource which I hope will enjoy a wide readership in the church, especially by church leaders. It is rich with insights about the quieter members of the church. The book will help extroverts better understand introverts and may give introverts a better understanding of themselves. I wish that I had known about the differences between introverts and extroverts years ago. Introverts and extroverts need one another and McHugh urges them to work together to bring their various strengths into the service of Christ. This is in harmony with what the apostle Paul wrote so many years ago in 1 Corinthians 12 about the variously gifted members of the body (the church) needing one another.

Reviewed by John P. Lathrop

Publisher’s page: https://www.ivpress.com/introverts-in-the-church