This paper on the transforming power of the story of Jesus was presented by James Purves as a guest lecture on April 9, 2003, at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague. The full title was “Pursuing the glory and goodness: Christomorphism: Where neopentecostal and anabaptist meet?”

Introduction

The approach here offered is dogmatic rather than systematic: our method lies in identifying the essential ‘building blocks’ of Christian theology, not designing a complete system. The propriety of constructing a contextualised, narrative theology is allowed for; but subject to it having, as prolegomena, an adequate dogmatic foundation. It is the nature of that dogmatic foundation that we seek to address.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires (2 Peter 1:3-4).

Part 1: The Story

The glory

At the age of 19 the realisation of a living Jesus impacted me, during a student outreach meeting, six months prior to my conversion. The sense of God’s glory, at variously times since described by me as ‘being born again’, ‘filled’ or ‘baptised’ by the Holy Spirit, overwhelmed me at conversion. It seemed that God’s presence came down with an experience of energy, of presence and power passing in and through my body. Involuntary shaking filled the room when I met with another in prayer. Convictions formed within me that God was saying certain things. A hunger for Scripture, prayer, fellowship and an appetite for witnessing gripped me. In the context of revival in the university’s Faculty of Law, I was inducted into a spirituality that embraces glossolalia, prophetic utterance, healing and deliverance ministry as normative to the Christian life.

At the same time, I was mixing with a peer group who were shaped by the Charismatic renewal movement of the mid-1970’s. Introduced to a biography of Edward Irving[1], a famous preacher whose sermons gripped London society in the early 1800’s, and whose reflections in Christology and Pneumatology prefigured those of both later Holiness and Pentecostal theologians, I also became involved in a sacramental and liturgical traditional of healing and deliverance ministry, connected with the Scottish Iona Community.

Two years after conversion, I was a ministerial candidate for the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, already trying to deal with a tension between:

1. A Federal Calvinism, emphasising Atonement through Christ’s propitiatory, substitutionary Sacrifice. This was allied to an Augustinian anthropology, emphasising Christ potest non peccare, set over against the mass of sinful humanity, non potest non peccare. Christ’s sinless humanity was presented as essentially different to ours. I was taught that, through the atoning power of the Cross, we receive the benefits of Christ, specifically through salvation imparted through my credal confession of the revelation of Christ as Saviour, grace for this life dispensed through the continuing ministry of Word and Sacraments.
2. An understanding and ownership of the implication of the assumed humanity of Jesus Christ, as explored by Edward Irving, focussing on the Incarnation as the wellhead of atoning power, as expressed in Athanasius’ De Incarnatione, further looking to the Irenaean model of recapitulation, which emphasised that Christ shared the whole experience of our own humanity.

There was, in these early days of my theological formation and, indeed, throughout the period of preparation for ministry, no consolidated, ontological understanding of what it means for us to share in the life of Christ. Expectation of sharing in the experience of Christ was diminished by a stress, arising out of Bezan Calvinism, of Atonement properly understood as propitiatory sacrifice. Sacramentalism, in the Reformed as well as the Catholic setting, had domesticated the modus operandi of the empowering, purposeful presence of God. My ministerial mentors impressed upon me, as a young pastor, that it was through the faithful, weekly exercise of the ministry of Word and Sacraments that the means of promoting Christian witness and fulfilling the Church’s missional purpose was pursued. As one of my predecessors in my present charge, Bristo Baptist Church (founded 1765) was fond of saying, ‘we are evangelical but not evangelistic’. This was not meant as a confession of shame: it was a positive affirmation of a philosophy of ministry that validated the weekly ministry of Word and Sacraments.

The Goodness

Goodness? Apart from seeking to be pleasant and caring as occasion required, it was only of real concern if it would help lead a person into wanting to know more about Jesus, a prelude to their conversion.

Part 2: Questions

What if ‘glory’ and ‘goodness’ are, in fact, integrally related components? What if this is something that God has ordained as necessary for us, in order to share in His missional purpose for a renewed humanity, sharers in the divine nature? What if the essence of Christian faith and living is not, in fact, related to an individualistic ownership of Cartesian, propositional truths; but more foundationally related to our engagement with the substance of the glory and goodness of God, alone through which we come to a proper engagement with his very great and precious promises?

Can we not encourage this dual axis of awareness, that is captured in 2 Peter 1:3 – the glory (ontological awareness) and the goodness (ethical awareness) – in the reading and application of Scripture? Before looking to how we might do this, let us first clarify the dogmatic basis on which we would seek to build our hermeneutic.

Part 3: Dogmatic foundations

1. Truth is found in the context of God’s relating to people and the responding relating of people to God and, consequentially, people to people. Jesus is this truth, because He prototypical and paradigmatic of all these relationships.

We can only engage in theology out off this relationship, which is a process of our moving out off subjective, existential perceptions regarding ourselves and God, into relational dynamic anchored in Jesus Christ. Both the catalyse and paradigm for this is Jesus. In Jesus, we meet with mankind truly relating to God. In Jesus we meet with the One who is fully embraced in God’s relating becomingness to us and man’s responsive desire for God. In Jesus we meet with our humanity embraced and saturated in the glory and goodness that comes from God alone. This reciprocity of God’s becomingness to man and man’s response of surrender, in his desire for God, is founded for us in the vicarious humanity of Jesus Christ.

3. This God who, through Christ, enrols us in His dynamic relationships defines Himself in relational terms. The key passage of Exodus 34.6-7a, is seminal here. As with Moses, we can only know God in and through seeking relationship with Him and His glory; and in being confronted with the self-disclosure of God in His goodness: And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in merciful love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

The truth of the One who declares ‘I am who I am’ is found only when we are arrested and constrained by these dynamic characteristics of His goodness; and it is when these dynamic characteristics of His goodness are combined with the presence of His glory, the weight of His presence met with and embraced, that we enter into and are enabled by God in a manner true to His revelation in Jesus. All we need for life and godliness are this glory and goodness (2 Peter 1.3-4). Indeed, the full nature of the vicarious, atoning death of Christ can only be sufficiently grasped when we view it terms predicative of our humanity’s engagement with the relational intent of God’s character, in terms of compassion, grace, merciful love, faithfulness and forgiveness.

5. My relationships with others will be decisively shaped by my grasp of this identify that God invites me to embrace in Christ, recipient of and participant in His glory and goodness. Where my identity and self-understanding is firmly grounded in Christ, this will decisively shape the priority I give to seeking the presence of His glory and, at the same time, responding to His call to reflect the character of God’s goodness towards others.

Part 4: The hermeneutical challenge

To encourage people to engage with this dual axis that is captured in 2 Peter 1:3 – the glory (ontological dynamic) and the goodness (ethical dynamic), we need to engage with the Scriptures in a way that draws people into the process of discipleship that is centred on the vicarious humanity of Jesus Christ. For this, we would want to apply a condensed, prognostic question that addresses the basic, Biblical hermeneutic:

• Who were the people this Scriptural passage was first delivered to? Why was it addressed to them? What could this Scripture have meant to them?

However, in order to apply the dynamic of a Christomorphic life, we must go further than that. We have to look for a contextual application that allows for the glory and the goodness of God to be outworked in and through our ministry.

One way of doing this might be in asking the following questions.

‘Through the reading of this passage, in what way does the Word of God:

• confront me with our heavenly Father’s intent to bring the fullness of His glory and goodness to earth?
• challenge me to give myself more fully into the life of God’s Son, “to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death”?
• encourage me to recognise or further seek, as one among God’s people, the enabling presence of the Holy Spirit?’

It seems no accident that so much early preaching of the Scriptures was heavily allegorical, or that early, pre-Nicene formulations of the Trinity were emphatically economic. What mattered was the pursuit of Christomorphism: becoming more like Christ. In reading the Scriptures, it was the presence and pattern of Christ that was constantly looked for, the enabling of the Holy Spirit that was sought, the glory and goodness of Father that was acknowledged.

Where neopentecostal and anabaptist meet?

Neopentecostals have alerted the world afresh to the glory of God come to earth in and through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Unashamedly experiential, they look with expectancy for God’s glory to come among them; and many of us have witnessed, participated in the reality of God’s present glory through the power of the Holy Spirit and been blessed by God because of it.

Image: Yuriy Bogdanov

PR

Notes

[1] [Editor’s note: For more on Edward Irving see Derek Vreeland, “Edward Irving: Preacher, Prophet and Charismatic Theologian” and Trevor W. Martindale, “Edward Irving’s Incarnational Christology,” along with many other resources at PneumaReview.com.]

Dr. Hormoz Shariat is from Iran. He was a Muslim who became a believer in Jesus. This transformation took place in the United States. Becoming a Christian radically changed the course of his life. Not only did he become a new creation in Christ, his new found faith also changed his career. This volume contains a number of different types of information. Some of what the author has written is personal, some of it is biblical, and some of it is historical. He provides the reader with a glimpse into what God is doing among Iranian Muslims.

The book is divided into three parts. Part I is “My Journey Out of Islam,” Part II is “Iran Will Be a Christian Nation,” and Part III is “Iran is Just the Beginning.” In addition to the main text, in the back of the book readers will find “Questions For Reflection.” These are designed to help the reader engage with the material that was covered in the chapters.

Part III deals with some of the things that are happening among Muslims in Iran in contemporary times. One thing that is happening is that the Lord is appearing to Muslims in dreams and visions (page 178). Dr. Shariat says that the miraculous is taking place so frequently that it is considered normal (page 178). In this section he also says that in the future Iran is going to become a missionary sending nation (page 187)

There are things in this book that may surprise some readers. One is the growth rate of the church in Iran. Citing Operation World, the author points out that Iran has the most rapid rate of evangelical growth in the world (page 133). This is taking place even though there are very few church buildings open in Iran (page 137). And the languages used in the churches that are open cannot be understood by Iranians (page 137). There are underground churches but there are not many of them and they are dangerous to attend (page 137). Another surprising thing is that though the media shows videos of Iranians shouting “Death of America,” the average Iranian loves Americans (page 175). Dr. Shariat shares some interesting examples of this (pages 176-177).

If you are interested in Global Christianity, missions, the gospel in the Muslim world or similar topics I think you will enjoy this book. It is interesting to hear the author’s testimony and what God is doing in Iran. Dr. Shariat’s ministry, Iran Alive, is playing an important part in the sharing of the gospel in Iran and the strengthening of the faith of the believers there. Many Muslims are coming to faith in Christ. This is truly amazing because they are becoming believers in a land where the stakes are very high for being a Christian. God cannot be thwarted, He can build His church even in hostile circumstances: and He is!

Reviewed by John Lathrop

Preview Iran’s Great Awakening: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Iran_s_Great_Awakening/1uAMEAAAQBAJ

I cannot stress enough how important this article is. It should be read by anyone in a Christian leadership position. It is the finest article on the background to the takeover of the America university system by Marxists and radicals that has occurred in the past decades.

The Rev “Rob” Smith is an Anglican priest and lecturer of theology and ethics at Sydney Missionary Bible College, and a book review editor for the e-journal Themelios. It is published for the Evangelical English-speaking world, with contributors from this country, the UK and “down under.”

In his article, Rob Smith sets out to examine the concept of “Cultural Marxism” and determine if the term is useful, if it pertains to a real ideology, or if it is merely a myth invented by conservative activists to negatively broad brush the Left.

He goes about this principally from a historian’s perspective, and rightly affirms that intellectual history is especially difficult, though it is important:

The development of ideas and their links to the movements they generate or justify is often a messy process. It can be notoriously difficult to identify the precise relationship between this school of thought and that social phenomenon or to quantify the impact of particular individuals on larger social changes.

Rob begins his analysis by examining the main components of Karl Marx’s theories (especially useful for those who have not majored in economics or history in college). Rob points out that Marx came from a nominal Christian family and became an atheist as a boy, and never looked back. Not surprisingly, the salient feature of Marx’s theories was his hatred of the bourgeois (the economic middle class). He also developed a reliance on, and then reversed, the philosophy of Hegel. Marx believed that history was driven by materialists factors, not spirit as Hegel believed, and primarily driven by the struggle of the underclasses. Marx believed this would eventually end in a classless Utopia after the bourgeois were violently overthrown. He predicted that communist revolutions would first take place in Europe led by awakened industrial workers. Of course, this did not happen. In Russia and China, the Communist revolution was led by intellectuals and supported mostly by peasants.

Kentaro Toma

Marxist followers tried to make sense of why the industrial workers did not succeed in bringing revolution in Europe and America, and why only a minority were truly radicalized. The answers were worked out by an Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) who died young but left an extremely influential set of writings. These were done while he was in one of Mussolini’s prison – He had actually supported the fascist Mussolini earlier. Reflecting on his Catholic youth, Gramsci concluded that the reason that prevented workers from becoming communist as Marx had predicted was that the culture was Christian and held on to Judeo-Christian values and ethics. This would always impede and stop the spread of communism. His solution was not a frontal attack on the church, as was happening in Russia, but rather a slow takeover of church institutions and government agencies.

Gramsci’s work was not edited and published in English until 1970, but it circulated among the radical youths of the 1960s and continues to be vastly influential today among radicals and Marxists. The Rev. Smith affirms that after Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci is the most influential Communist writer of all time. What he advocated has become fact in the American University system, many NGOs, and through “liberation theology” in many parts of the Catholic Church.

This continued advancement of Marxism in the universities and other institutions of America was fueled by a group of Marxist intellectuals that came together at a Communist think-tank in Frankfort, Germany after World War I. They were independent of Stalin’s control, unlike the official Communist parties of the time, and developed different ideas about how to bring about the promised Communist Utopia. The Frankfort group, including Theodore Adorno, Eric Fromm and Herbert Marcuse, fled Germany after the Nazis won power (1933). For a time, they gathered in Columbia University and established the influential Marxist journal, Studies in Philosophy and Social Science. They were careful to be discrete and not overtly call for revolution or cite Karl Marx directly. What they did was develop critical theories of the important institutions of the West, with the intension that if they collapsed internally, or lost authority, the Communist revolution would succeed naturally, and utopia could be gained.

A salient quality of their writings was that they said nothing about the coming Utopia, assuming it would naturally fall into place. Several, including Eric Fromm, attempted to unite Marxist theory with Freudian psychoanalysis. Marcuse did this also, and in his Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud (1955) went to the extreme of suggesting the capitalist bourgeois restrictions on sexuality were what made people unhappy. The liberated person should have no restrictions on sexual expression, including doing what some children do, playing with their own poop. He called this “polymorphous perversity” – a truly demonic idea which invites the spread many parasitic and bacterial diseases. In spite of this, Eros and Civilization became one of the foundations of the sexual liberation movement.

The writings of Gransci and the Frankfort group permeated American and European universities and blended with ecological, feminist, and LGBQ agendas to produce the political correctness movement – which is destroying freedom of speech in the universities. In this regard, Marcuse’s essay, “Repressive Tolerance” (1965) is key, as he suggested there that free speech can be oppressive to the underclasses of society and must be restricted.

The Rev. Smith concludes by identifying Cultural Communism as a real, strong, and active ideology. It is not a myth invented by right-wing activists, nor is it a Jewish plot as some have suggested. Although many in the Frankfort group were indeed Jews, it also had non-Jews. Rather, Cultural Marxism is Marxism elaborated and gone to seed while the West snoozed.

This is a masterful article, concise and insightful. Readers need not have a degree in philosophy or history to understand, though it might be difficult to follow for someone without a college education.

I find the only weak point in his article is the Rev. Smith’s section on how to reverse the present, awful situation in our universities. He advocates pursuing standard evangelistic techniques of conversations and evangelization with the radicals, as in, being polite and listening, and then giving the Gospel. Unfortunately, that has not worked very well. There have been Evangelical groups and clubs at universities for decades, and they have not stopped the universities’ march to radicalization. Traditional evangelism and apologetics has had relatively little impact on non-believers who are saturated with the ideas and myths of Marxism, while the writings of the New Atheists, have widely broadcast distorted and deformed views of Christianity.[1]

What the Rev. Smith is lacking is any understanding in the development that has occurred in recent decades in the area of spiritual warfare. He hints that some of the success of the Cultural Marxism may be due to demonic influences, but does not elaborate on this.

In this regard, I am preparing an essay which suggests that to counter Cultural Marxism it is necessary to massively employ spiritual warfare techniques and strategies, as in “concerts of prayer” that war against the territorial “principalities and powers” that reign over universities. Decades ago, the missiologist Peter Wagner showed this could be done to bind the demonic spirits that held back effective evangelization in the areas that resisted the Gospel.[2] To this type of spiritual warfare[3] should be added the “power evangelism” technique for individual evangelization made popular by John Wimber.[4] Indeed, radicalized individuals will not be swayed by evangelistic tracts or Billy Graham type crusades. Their deep contempt for Christianity makes them resistant to those forms of evangelization. But they will respond to the Gospel if it is presented, as scripturally mandated, with “signs and wonders,” as in their own healings (Heb 2:1-4). Power evangelism might best be brought to the universities through the “public prayer stations” where intercessors are posted on the streets to offer prayer to pedestrians. Even radicals have personal needs (“I’m sick,” “My girlfriend left me,” etc.) and are often willing to try prayer.[5]

Reviewed by William De Arteaga

Notes

[1] Siniscalchi, Glenn B., “Evangelization and the New Atheism,” American Theological Inquiry, 2 no 2 Jul 15 2009, p 29-41

[2] Peter Wagner has written many books and articles, but perhaps the two most pertinent in praying for the universities and colleges are: C. Peter Wagner, ed., Territorial Spirits: How to Crush the Enemy Through Spiritual Warfare (Shippensbury: Destiny Image, 2012) and Confronting the Powers (Regal, 1996)

[3] [Editor’s note: For a counter-point to the discussion of strategic level spiritual warfare, please see Larry Taylor, “Worldviews in Conflict: Christian Cosmology and the Recent Doctrine of Spiritual Mapping” Pneuma Review (Part 1 in Fall 2001 and Part 2 in Winter 2002).]

[4] John Wimber and Keven Springer, Power Evangelism (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1987).

[5] William L. De Arteaga, The Public Prayer Station: Taking Healing Prayer to the Streets and Evangelizing the Nones (Lexington: Emeth Press, 2018). Note the rapid conversion of a dedicated atheist during a prayer station healing, p. 62.

Dan Reiland writes to church leaders: Meeting the needs of the poor and needy is difficult to say the least. It’s not just a matter of limited resources, but understanding vision, direction and God’s heart in the matter. This article provides thought to stir you and your church to assess and strengthen your local church benevolence.

Solomon understood the requirements of his kingdom when it came to the poor and needy. “He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor.” Psalm 72:4. God’s heart in this matter is clear. We have a responsibility to those in need. “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3-4).

How often do you (your local church) respond to a person who needs help? It may be a homeless person who is hungry. It may be a member who needs help paying their electric bill. The needs are seemingly endless and scripture is clear that it is God’s heart to help the poor. How you determine who gets what is another story altogether. This tension is not a new one.

After years of experience I now think it is sometimes okay to be taken advantage of if we have done our best to discern the situation. It’s better to be taken advantage of on occasion than to allow your heart to grow cold. God will take care of the rest.

It is imperative that we are wise with our time and resources. They are both limited. That’s the tension for the local church. It’s not a lack of compassion. So what’s a pastor to do? The following are some thoughts to help you evaluate a plan for your church.

Keep your own heart tender to the needs around you.

It’s easy to allow the pressures of local church ministry to override your heart for people. It’s a strange irony. We do what we do in part simply because we love people. Then at times people become the burden of ministry. There are so many needs and so little time. We all understand that. Finding the balance is the insight we need.

Understand that the need doesn’t constitute the call.

The first point made, now there’s the proverbial “other shoe.” You may have heard the phrase “the need doesn’t constitute the call.” It’s a good principle to guide your ministry. There are hundreds of needs, thousands really, but just because a need exists doesn’t mean it’s your responsibility to take care of it.

Part of educating and maturing a congregation is to teach the people that it is not their job is to find the poor and needy and bring them to a pastor! They should follow God’s heart and meet the need as they can on their own. In many cases they can do just as good of a job if not better.

Consider strategic partnerships within your community.

There are two distinctly different approaches in the way a local church goes about developing and implementing a benevolence strategy. One approach seeks to cover the needs directly from within the church by utilizing a direct hands-on method. The other forms strategic partnerships with organizations in the local community.

I have practiced each of these in a local church and there are benefits to both. It’s a good thing when a church is hands-on, and for example, has a food pantry and or a clothing bank. But now after trying both approaches, I personally lean heavily toward partnerships. By sending our volunteers and our financial resources to a number of existing agencies in the community, the process is more effective and the end result yields a greater impact.

Because a number of churches and organizations participate in these strategic partnerships, the total resources leveraged to any one need is significantly larger than when compared to what any one church could do on their own. Further, that organization puts their full time talent and attention to that work. Candidly, they’re better at it.

Image: Joel Muniz

The danger with partnerships is that the church might never “get its hands dirty”. They may just refer people out. That is a rare danger because there are always people you can’t refer, and the process of assessing and referring still requires time and care. Further, as already mentioned, one of the essentials is to send volunteers to wherever you send your financial resources. This helps ensure personal engagement at a hands-on level.

Know your strategy and put a plan in place.

This is important. You simply must know what you are doing. First pray about the specific needs you believe God wants you to lean into. There are dozens to choose from. Just because a church member brings you a new need doesn’t mean the church should own it. You can’t do all of them, so choose prayerfully. From there, decide what your limits are. For example, perhaps you decide to put a process of benevolence in place for your members. You need to decide, ahead of time, what criteria makes a person eligible to receive help, including how much they can receive. Exceptions can always be made, but you will be wise to have written guidelines.

Follow your discernment, and own your decisions.

You have noticed that I have not given you a list of local compassion options or guidelines for how much to invest. You have to decide that. My desire is to stir some fresh thought in hopes of strengthening your local church benevolence practices. I trust that intentionality will decrease headaches and increase your impact in people’s lives with the love and mercy of God.

Originally from the October 2008 issue of The Pastor’s Coach (Volume 9, Issue 18). “This article is used by permission from Dr. Dan Reiland’s free monthly e-newsletter, The Pastor’s Coach, available at www.INJOY.com.”

Image: Ray Fragapane

Peter had approached Jesus many times in the past but never in the capacity for which he now had opportunity. The privilege was not merely to walk on the water; instead, it was the opportunity to step out of the natural, physical realm where he had always been and step into the immaterial, incorporeal realm of the Spirit. Nor could Peter go on his own volition; instead, he said to Jesus, “Lord, command me to come to you on the water,” that is, “urge me to come–help me to get through my unbelief to where you are.” Peter was aware that much, much more would be happening than his merely leaving the boat. In that moment, he would be stepping into a sphere where sense and reasoning, gravity and natural forces of the earth, would no longer be in control. Such a step from one dimension to another—from earth’s materialism into the non-physical Kingdom of God–could not be initiated from himself. Apart from Jesus’ specific “urging him on,” he did not possess the ability to approach or enter that realm.

Peter’s experience involves us in this way: In every age, the Holy Spirit has invited believers to step into His own miraculous realm. Only a few have achieved it. As in Moses’ day when Israel was commanded to “follow the cloud,” so God’s constant effort has been to lead us–not across the desert–but into the miraculous realm of the Spirit. This fact has been as difficult for contemporary Christians to accept as it was for ancient Jews. For that reason many modern congregations find themselves left behind, wondering what happened to their once thriving ministries. Miraculous power is gone; nothing is left but an empty shell where life once thrived.

Scotland is a primary example. Churches in Scotland were once jammed with worshipers seeking God. Sermons were powerful and dominated national thought. Buildings were huge, elegant, and crowded. Not so today. Less than 4 percent of the Scottish population attends church. Many church buildings have been converted into taverns, night clubs, pubs, and one empty Cathedral is used for “rock climbing.” Worst of all, some church buildings have become Mosques. How did it happen? The “Cloud” moved and the Church of Scotland refused to follow. The holy fire with which John Knox ignited the nation and terrified his opponents is today a bed of ashes. And Scottish Presbyterianism is not alone. Numerous other denominations are going the same tragic route as Scotland. The Church of England has closed more than 600 houses of worship while Islam has opened nearly 1,000 new mosques inside Great Britain.

Centuries ago, one of the hymn writers saw this decline and prophetically wrote:

Surely once thy garden flourished,
Every part looked gay and green,
Then thy Word our spirit’s nourished,
Happy season we have seen.
But a drought has since succeeded,
And a sad decline we see,
Lord thy help is greatly needed,
Help can only come from Thee!
Lord revive us! O, revive us,
All our help must come from Thee!

1. Angelic appearances: John 1:49-51.

Nathanael answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

2. Daylight visions: Acts 10:1-4.

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour
of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord?”

The type of angelic-encounter Jesus promised Nathanael and the incredible motivation which accompanies it, is fast-coming to believers in our day. Almost weekly I meet sensible, reliable Christians who have encountered angels. Cornelius’ experience may well be repeated before our eyes. Over 50 years ago I had a night-time visitation of angels in which my room was suddenly filled with an angelic host. When it first happened I was terrified and would have run from the room had they not spoken and put my mind at rest. At the time, I saw nothing but knew I was momentarily lifted into outer space and completely surrounded with them. The next day I shared the experience and then lapsed into years of silence for fear no one would believe me. That has changed. I am now committed to preaching about such encounters. Moslems in all parts of the world are having visions of Jesus and being saved because of it. Some of the most dynamic, out-spoken Christians I know are former Moslems to whom Jesus has sovereignly appeared. R.T. Kendall pressed this fact upon Yasser Arafat in their five private meetings as he
attempted to bring the terrorist to Christ.

3. Out-of-body experiences: 2 Corinthians 12:1-5.

I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago–whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows–such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man–whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows–how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.

My ministry began in 1948 with a daytime vision in which I saw myself preaching. Until that moment I had not the slightest hint that a pastoral life lay before me. That was not my choice. But the vision was so powerful, so totally overwhelming, that at the end of weeks of fighting it, I finally surrendered to the will of God. The vision was followed by another, again in the daytime, in which God assured me He had answers for all my fearful questions. Now, more than seven decades later, those two visions remain the greatest, most unchallengeable motivation in my commitment to Him. This year I will be 90 years old and say without hesitation I expect to receive more anointing and greater revelation through meetings with the Lord that are “out of my boat and into His realm.” I want that! With God’s grace permitting, I will! Come go with me!

From Charles Carrin Ministries monthly newsletter, Gentle Conquest (October 2020). Originally published as “An Important Difference in Religion and Spirituality.” Used with permission. http://www.charlescarrinministries.com/gentleconquest

Larry Martin started PentecostalGold.com to share recordings of classic sermons from Pentecostal preachers. Pneuma Review caught up with this busy evangelist and author to ask him about this golden archive available to the public without cost or obligation.

PneumaReveiw.com: Please tell our readers a bit about yourself.

Larry Martin: I am an Assemblies of God evangelist with more than fifty years in gospel ministry. I have served the body of Christ as a pastor, evangelist and Bible College administrator. I have dedicated myself to the study of Pentecostal origins and have published a number of books on the revival at Azusa Street and the outpouring in Topeka, Kansas.

PneumaReveiw.com: Briefly explain what Pentecostal Gold is.

Larry Martin: Pentecostal Gold is a free audio archive of classic Pentecostal preaching. There are more than 2,200 sermons on the site by more than 200 different preachers. I add several more sermons almost every week.

PneumaReveiw.com: What inspired you to start this website?

Larry Martin: With a love for history and good preaching, it seemed natural to take an interest in preserving great Pentecostal preaching. Over the years, I had personally collected several hundred tapes of sermons and soon found that several of my friends also had a lot of tapes. When God gave me the idea over seven years ago I immediately went to work on it, purchasing the web address and uploading sermons.

I spend part of most days working on the website. It is my gift of love to the body of Christ. I believe when I am gone or no longer able to minister Pentecostal Gold will continue to minister to new generations of men and women hungry for the Word of God.

PneumaReveiw.com: Did you have certain criteria that you used in order to determine which preachers you would include on your website?

Larry Martin: Yes, there are several.

• The preacher must be Pentecostal
• The preacher must be 70 years of age or in Heaven. I set the age limit arbitrarily, but was interested in posting preachers with experience and those who had passed the point of trying to impress others.
• I must be able to obtain permission to post the sermons. If the speaker is alive, I must have his or her permission. If they are deceased, I must have permission from an heir.

I am very serious about the third requirement. Christians and even preachers are sometimes the most careless about violating copyright laws. Every sermon ever preached is the intellectual property of the speaker and we respect that. In order to listen to the sermons, an individual must sign into the site and agree that they will not download or copy the sermons. If I can add a short side note, I am amazed that “Christians” will use a fake name or fake email to sign into the site to try and short cut that simple request.

PneumaReveiw.com: Who are some of the preachers that people can listen to on Pentecostal Gold?

Larry Martin: A complete list is on the website, but readers will recognize names like C. M. Ward, Jimmy Swaggart, R. W. Schambach, Aimee Semple McPherson, A A Allen and David Wilkerson. This, of course, is just a small sampling.

Not all of the preachers are famous. I value all preaching and intentionally include the obscure as well as the famous. I realize that most listeners will be drawn to the better known preachers, but the unknown men and women of God also had something important to say.

Many of my friends and even people I have never met send me sermons from their personal library. When I get a new preacher, I begin the search for permission. Locating the heirs of a long-deceased preacher can be the most difficult part of the process. When I get permission I edit the sermon and change the format to MP3 and another preacher is added to the archive.

PneumaReveiw.com: The Pentecostal Gold website makes a point of saying that your ministry “does not endorse every person posted on the site; neither do we endorse every doctrine and discipline advocated by every preacher.” Why was it necessary to include this disclaimer?

Larry Martin: I have been criticized because I have added preachers that may have had a blemish on their lives. My answer to that is that Pentecostal Gold exists to celebrate preachers, not judge them. I will let God take care of the rest on judgment day.

Image: Matt Botsford

As far as doctrines, there are certainly some minor things said on the website that is not totally in line with everything I believe. That would be especially true with regards to the interpretation of prophetic events. If someone raised an issue, I would probably joke and say, “I don’t always agree with myself.”

At the same time, I would not allow heresy on the site or a major deviation from truth. For example, I have not posted any sermons by “Oneness” Pentecostals. Will I ever? I am not sure. I do know I would not post a sermon that advocated a “Jesus Only” water baptism or Holy Spirit baptism as requisites for salvation.

PneumaReveiw.com: Are there any preachers that you would like to add to the website in the future?

Larry Martin: There are many. I don’t want to name names, but some preachers or their heirs have refused to allow me to post sermons. Some of those are big names that most would quickly recognize. Unfortunately, others are not at all famous but their families are just unwilling to share. Sad to say, it is often for monetary reasons. This really disappoints me because I feel if I could talk to the preacher themselves almost all of them would be glad to share the messages God has given them.

There are others I would like to add but to date I have not been given any of their sermons. Honestly, my unattainable goal would be to add everyone that ever preached a Pentecostal sermon.

PneumaReveiw.com: What can we learn from the Pentecostal preachers who are found on Pentecostal Gold?

Larry Martin: What is there not to learn? With over 2000 sermons, just about every subject regarding our Pentecostal practice is covered. Many of the sermons are categorized by subject.

Young preachers can also learn practical preaching styles by listening to these men and women of God. Of course, there is an anointing of the Holy Spirit, but there are also styles of preaching, cadence, homiletical structures and basic delivery that have been proven successful for over a century.

To be candid, I personally learned much about preaching by listening to reel-to-reel and cassette tapes of some of the sermons on the website.

PneumaReveiw.com: What do you feel is unique or special about Pentecostal preaching?

Larry Martin: I value all biblical preaching. Some of the greatest preaching I have ever heard was by preachers who were not Pentecostal. I, however, am Pentecostal and honor my heritage through celebrating Pentecostal preaching. If Pentecostal preaching is unique it is because Spirit-filled ministers tend to rely more on the anointing and power of Holy Spirit.

PentecostalGold.com

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Dr. Craig Keener is a widely recognized New Testament scholar. He is perhaps best known for the biblical commentaries he has written. He has won the respect of believers from many different church traditions. His books are characterized by meticulous research, great detail, and thorough documentation. This current volume is a bit different than most of Keener’s other work. The difference is that this book is short! However, even though it is short it is not lacking in substance.

The book is comprised of: a preface, forward, endorsements, introduction, and five chapters. The chapters, for the most part, are based on lectures Dr. Keener gave in different places in 2002, 2008, and 2009 (page 1). The lectures he gave at Asia Pacific Theological Seminary in 2009 were put in article form and were first published in the Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies (pages 1-2). Chapter 5 of the book was also published in the journal but at an earlier date, in 2008. For All Peoples is a compilation of the articles which were published in the journal over ten years ago (pages 1-2).

The first chapter focuses on Matthew 28:18-20, the text that is commonly referred to as “The Great Commission.” The author points out that the one command is to “make disciples” (page 3). He further writes that this mission includes: “going,” “baptizing,” and “teaching” (page 3). Keener plainly states that discipleship is not just evangelism (page 14). There must be further instruction or training for those who come to faith in Christ (pages 14-15). He further elaborates on what a disciple of Jesus is to value (pages 16-19). One truth that emerges in this chapter is that the gospel message is meant to be shared cross-culturally.

The third chapter is given to the missiology of Luke as found in Acts 1 and 2. The author provides a very homiletical outline of the major themes related to Pentecost. He writes about: “The Promise of Pentecost” (pages 48-55), “The Preparation for Pentecost” (pages 55-57), “The Proofs of Pentecost” (pages 57-62), “The Peoples of Pentecost” (pages 62-64), “The Prophecy of Pentecost” (pages 65-67), “The Preaching of Pentecost” (pages 68-69), “The Purpose of Pentecost” (pages 69-72). One point he states plainly near the beginning and end of this chapter is that we cannot be successful in Christ’s mission without His power (page 48, 72).

The last chapter looks at Acts 16:8-10. Here Keener examines information pertinent to the gospel crossing over from Asia into Europe. Unlike the other chapters, the content of this chapter deals more with historical information from outside the Bible than with the biblical text.

Though For All Peoples is brief it has a lot to offer. It is thoroughly biblical and reminds the church, through multiple biblical texts, of its mission. In the foreword, Dr. Wonsuk Ma said that Keener’s chapter on Pentecost (Chapter 3) is important for the whole church (page vii). Pentecostals in particular may gravitate toward this chapter. This book is a valuable contribution to the literature on missional theology.

Reviewed by John Lathrop

Preview For All Peoples: https://books.google.com/books?id=HHH8DwAAQBAJ

Publisher’s page: https://wipfandstock.com/for-all-peoples.html

Doug Clay, “What is Pentecostalism?” Assemblies of God News (September 30, 2020).

“Research Roundup: Preaching Takeaways from the Latest in Social Science” Christianity Today Pastors (Fall 2020).

Compiled by Ted Olson, these fascinating observations from recent social science research are sure to get you thinking about your next sermon, and probably the last few.  

John Piper, “Policies, Persons, and Paths to Ruin: Pondering the Implications of the 2020 Election” DesiringGod.org (October 22, 2020).

Published 12 days before the U.S. elections, Piper writes: “Actually, this is a long-overdue article attempting to explain why I remain baffled that so many Christians consider the sins of unrepentant sexual immorality (porneia), unrepentant boastfulness (alazoneia), unrepentant vulgarity (aischrologia), unrepentant factiousness (dichostasiai), and the like, to be only toxic for our nation, while policies that endorse baby-killing, sex-switching, freedom-limiting, and socialistic overreach are viewed as deadly.”  

Daniel Silliman, “At Purple Churches, Pastors Struggle with Polarized Congregations: A challenging year threatens to divide Christians who have resisted the cultural trend” Christianity Today (October 20, 2020).

Image: Hasmik Ghazaryan Olson

Geoff Holsclaw, “5 Reasons Why Calling the Election a Fraud Because Your Favorite Prophets Do Is Dangerous” GeoffreyHolsclaw.net (November 9, 2020).

Craig Keener, “When Political Prophecies Don’t Come to Pass: The Bible includes false prophets and true prophets whose words turn out to be false” ChristianityToday.com (November 11, 2020).

In this web-only article, Keener discusses the biblical role of the prophet (in Bible times and today). He says, “Not only are all prophecies partial, but, more dangerously, sometimes we may confuse our wrong interpretation with God’s message.” The next day, on November 12, Keener posted a follow-up article that appeared on his blog. This article included several links to other articles he has written about prophecy and an expansion of the article that appeared at ChristianityToday.com.  

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This guest article by Christian historian William De Arteaga is calling Christians, particularly in the USA, to lay aside political differences and pray for the nation in which God has placed us.

There is a sense a panic among some Evangelicals about the Biden-Harris election victory. We are in the midst now of a very childish, and I believe sinful, challenge to the Biden victory on matters that cannot possibly shift the election outcome. I served as poll watcher eight years ago and know firsthand how meticulous and thorough the vote counting process is here in Georgia, as in other states. Trump recklessly claimed that the states that went against him were run by dishonest Democrats. Here in Georgia, which Trump lost, both the governor and secretary of state are Republicans and would not have allowed any pro-Democratic dishonesty in the vote count.

Image: Nathan Dumlao

There are fervent Trump supporters that are convinced that the Biden victory will result in a renewed secularization of America, with increased Christian persecution and the total spiritual ruin of our nation. I personally do not share these catastrophic expectations. To the contrary, have recently published a slender book on the serious spiritual damage that the Trump administration has caused to the long-range good of Evangelical/Pentecostal Christianity.[1] Although there is some danger that a Biden administration could take a radical secularist and anti-Christian turn, it is not probable, especially with the continued strong Republican presence in the Senate and House of Representatives.

But let me recall American history to a time that had a similar religious divide. In the election of 1800 Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican) ran against John Adams (Federalist). The spiritual issues revolved around the fact that Jefferson was a Deist and did not believe in the Bible as the word of God. He dismissed all of Jesus’ recorded healing as myths. Also, Jefferson had looked favorably on the French Revolution (1789) even after it took a turn into anti-Christianity and terror. The Federalist quickly became suspicious of the French Revolution, and under Adams Administration (he won the presidency in 1796) there was an undeclared naval war between Republican France and the United Sates. It could have evolved into all out warfare.

The Jefferson administration did not turn out anything like the catastrophic expectations the Federalists had prophesied. Rather, most historians consider it a “middling” good administration with such accomplishments as the buying of the Louisiana territory from Napoleon and ushering in a period of economic prosperity. While president, Jefferson gradually drifted to some to the Federalists positions about the role of government. Of course, neither the Terror nor the guillotine came to America, and women were as safe in the streets as before.

In fact, Jefferson’s term in office turned out to be the period of the Second Great Awakening, (1797-1805).[2] This was the most spiritually significant revival America has experienced thus far. It essentially converted American from a predominantly Deist country to a majority orthodox and Evangelical one. The revival is remembered mostly for the huge meetings at Cane Ridge, which was a frontier “camp meeting” under the open air. Out of the Second Great Awakening there developed the “anxious seat” and ultimately the Evangelical sacrament of the “altar call” where Christians first enter into a relationship with Jesus. Before that, as for instance under the evangelization of George Whitefield, the Gospel was preached but the hearer was directed to “go to the woods” (or any solitary place) and pray to discern if he or she was elected by God to be saved. This was a flawed theological tradition derived from classical Calvinism.[3] Some did not hear an affirmative message and believed they were doomed eternally.

But back to Jefferson. He was blissfully unaware of the tectonic spiritual change that America was experiencing in the Second Great Awakening and continued to be a Deist to the day he died. He did have a reconciliation with John Adams in his later years – a grace-filled sign from out of American history that deep political divides can be overcome.

Now, the main point of this essay is that revival can come again to America regardless of who is president. Revival seems to depend on two factors: God’s sovereignty, and the Christian’s persistence in repenting on behalf of the nation and praying for revival. Scholars and Bible teachers are divided on which factor is most important. I believe that the Lord wants to send revival at all times but waits until the prayers of the saints reach a certain critical (desperate) level before He responds. That is what happened in the Second Great Awakening, when a holy remnant of American Christians on the frontier saw and understood the terrible Deist situation of the Nation and prayed for revival. If I am wrong, point that out to me in heaven when you get there. I am 78, so I will probably beat you there.[4]

Prayer points:

• Continue to pray for the government in power, wither your party is in power or not. Don’t believe that revival depends on who is in the White House.
• Continue to repent on behalf of our nation for its sins, especially repenting on behalf of those who have no concept of sin or unrighteousness.
• Continue to pray and believe for a great revival to sweep through this nation. (We should not confuse a nation-changing revival like Cane Ridge with local “revivals” that are often little more that routine evangelical meetings. For instance, in the Welsh Revival of 1900 there was such a heavy presence of God that even unbelievers could see a glory cloud rolling in on one town after the other. It was reported that one unbeliever shouted to another, “Run, if the cloud hits you, you will never drink gin again!”
• Pray for the Holy Spirit to touch the White House and the entire administration, and that the policies put forward by that administration be godly and for the benefit of the entire nation.

Personally, I am praying for Biden in a special way, as I believe it is important that he remain in good health and a sound mind for the full four years of his term. I ask for God’s love and grace to fill him, and give him discernment in governing this nation and leading it to political reconciliation.

Editor’s note: This revised article was written by William DeArteaga on November 6, 2020, three days after the polls closed. To see the original article, see “Worried About the Election? What We Need is Revival” (published August 31, 2020).

Notes

[1] William L. De Arteaga, Discerning Trump’s Character and Presidency: A Theological reflection on How False Prophecy Influenced American Politics. (Amazon: KDP, 2020).

[2] Perhaps the best single work on the Second Great Awakening is Paul K .Conklin’s Cane Ridge: America’s Pentecost (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990).

[3] On the development of the altar call, originally called the “invitation” see my work Forgotten Power. (Grand Rapids; Zondervan, 2002). Chapter 12, “From Camp Meeting to Altar Call.”

[4] When I was pastor to my Hispanic congregation in Marietta, Georgia, I would sometimes preach a controversial message, and I would say to them, “Let’s meet at my mansion in heaven in 75 years and have coffee and pastries, and you tell me when I was accurate or way off.”

Christian historian Woodrow Walton continues his investigation into the origins of the modern movements that inspired Christians to go and share the mission and message of Jesus throughout the world. In Part 3, he invites us to learn more about the Quakers and other marginalized groups whose convictions had them following God on paths often disdained by other Christians.

In the 17^th and 18^th centuries, events were unfolding in England, Europe and North America that would change how the gospel message was being proclaimed. Although little was being done in the strict evangelical sense of proclaiming the message (kerygma), much was done in the area of the living out of the Christian message and in the complexion or appearance of the total church in Europe and especially in North America.

During this time, Southern Europe, especially along the Mediterranean coastline, remained dominantly Roman Catholic, from Portugal all the way to the Balkans and no further. The Balkans were strongly Orthodox within a growing Islamic presence. Slavic Europe, outside of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was also Orthodox. Austria-Hungary and the Czech and Slovak areas remained Catholic but were quickly experiencing the effects of the Protestant Reformation and the Anabaptist Radical Reformation. The Hussite Brethren, better known as the Moravians, were leaving for western Europe and then continuing to go overseas. However, similar Brethren bodies, such as the Mennonites, the Amish, and the Hutterian Brethren, remained. These had a significant impact on the Christian complexion of Eastern Europe outside of Russia.

To see the unfolding of the worldwide Christian mission, let us look at England and Germany in particular. First, there are two Englishmen worthy of attention, George Fox and William Penn.

George Fox was born on July 1624 in Drayton-in-the-Clay, Leicester, England, and is credited with being the founder of the Society of Friends, now known as the Quakers. By the time that he turned 19 years of age, he was conscious of an “inner voice” which evangelicals and Pentecostals would identify as the leading of the Holy Spirit. Fox became an assiduous student of the Bible. He was the first person on record to argue for the equality of women with men in the propagation of the gospel. In 1647, Fox began preaching publicly. He preached in fields and markets. He attracted gatherings of people who flocked to listen to his messages. At times, they gathered in houses after the services. Originally, the new believers referred to themselves as “Children of the Light” or “Friends of the Truth” and later still “Friends,” a term which continued to be in use along with “Quaker.” Fox became a public figure, but not of his own making. Officials were suspicious of him because of the stands he took on military service, the place of women in home and in public, and how the incarcerated and children should be treated.

George Fox refusing to take the oath at Houlker Hall, 1663. From a painting by John Pettie (1839-1893).
Image: Wikimedia Commons

At the same time, he gained approval from people in prominent positions: James Naylor, a prominent preacher in London, became one of Fox’s first converts to the Quaker position. By the end of the 1650s, the Society of Friends became more organized. The British Commonwealth under Cromwell in the 1650s was also the Friends’ most creative period. Even though the restoration of the monarchy was threatening for the Friends, now characterized as Quakers, it became the era when believers migrated to North America and settled in Puritan New England. The revolt in 1661 by the Fifth Monarchists led to the suppression of the Quakers and the repression of other dissenters, instigating an exodus. It was in the aftermath of the Fifth Monarchist coup that Fox and eleven other leaders among the Friends issued a statement which became known as “the peace testimony” from which stems their stand against military conscription.

A woman preaches during a Quaker Meeting in London (circa 1723), engraving by Bernard Picard (1673-1733).
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Their stand against military conscription and for equality of rights between men and women in both civil matters and the ministry of the church. This did not sit well with many in either England or Puritan New England. When some of the New England Quakers came to London to plead their case, Fox met with them. After his release from prison in 1666 for refusing to swear the oath of allegiance to the existing political regime in England, Fox set about normalizing a system of monthly and quarterly meetings throughout Great Britain, extending to Ireland’s Quaker population, a system which has persisted to this day. In 1669, Fox married a widow with eight children, Margaret, at a Quaker meeting in Bristol. They shared together in the administration the Society of Friends. In 1671, George and Margaret Fox embarked on a voyage to the West Indies and North America where they visited groups of Quakers who had earlier left England for Barbados, Jamaica, Maryland, and North Carolina. After the travels abroad, the Foxes returned to England. It was there that George and Margaret met with William Penn and Robert Barclay, men of wealth and position who became allied with the Friends.

In 1683, Penn, who had been granted land in North America, turned 1,000 acres of land in the colony of Pennsylvania to Fox and the Quakers. Although Fox was never able to visit for himself the Quaker colony in Pennsylvania, he was overjoyed with what was granted. Penn, himself a Quaker, furthered the ministry within Pennsylvania. The Act of Toleration of 1689 put an end to the uniformity law under which the Friends and other dissenting Christians had been discriminated against and persecuted. It was a great day for Fox and the expanding Quaker movement, both within what would later become the United States of America, and in the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark and Germany. Fox died in January 13, 1691, soon after preaching at the Gracechurch Meeting House in London. He left a journal and letters and other writings which were subsequently published after his death. His name is immortalized at the prestigious George Fox University with campuses in Portland, Salem, Newberg, and Redmond, Oregon.

Of equal importance was the Quaker emphasis on the leading of God’s Holy Spirit in a person’s life and, thereby, an increase of Christian witness. The spiritual health of the witness is as important as the sermon that is preached. Walt Whitman, who was raised by parents inspired by Quaker principles, wrote of George Fox: “George Fox stands for something too—a thought—the thought that wakes in silent hours—perhaps the deepest, most eternal thought latent in the human soul. This is the thought of God, merged in the thoughts of moral right and the immortality of identity” (Prose Works, Philadelphia, David McKay, 1892). Modern Christians have taken seriously the writings of Elton Trueblood, who for years taught at Earlham University in Indiana, on how Christians are yoke-fellows in Christ’s work of outreach and ministry. This writer has met Dr. Trueblood in person at a meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, around 1956, at the Texas Christian University.

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

The work of Richard Foster, who inspired the Renovaré moment and the Renovaré Spiritual Formation Study Bible, is another example of Quaker influence. The Renovaré Study Bible is an inter-denominational venture that seeks to plumb the spiritual depths of the Scriptures using quotations of Christians from the past with the intent of deepening the devotional life of the believer and consequently improve the quality of Christian witness.

A side effect of Penn’s donation of land to the Quakers was to encourage the settlement of the same area by other dissident Christian groups, particularly those with pacifist leanings such as the Mennonites of the Netherlands and the Amish of Switzerland. The designated land was composed of what is now known as Lancaster County, which historians consider the birthplace of American agriculture. The new Mennonite and Amish immigrants were principally farmers and agriculturists. Their children would later migrate into the American Midwest, during James Monroe’s presidency in the early 1820s, taking their agricultural skills with them. These migrations saw the development of farmlands in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, proudly displays a billboard advertising Quaker Oats as you enter the city. These families also displayed a quality of Christian life that enabled them to relate to the Native Americans of that section of our country. One of the earliest of these was the family of Daniel Boone. His earliest portrait identified him, by way of personal adornment and headwear, as a Quaker, a portrait that dispels the myth built around him by the Motion Picture industry and modern television frontier drama. Boone and his family of six children were able to balance the scales between the way of life of Native Americans and that of the immigrant settlers coming from the East.

What this did was to give a larger scope to the mission of the church beyond the preaching and purely evangelical to include the presentation of the Christian life lived out beyond that of preaching. The role of the church is not only that of the kerygma (proclamation) and the didactic (teaching) but the presentation of a kind of communal life which reaches outward beyond itself to reconcile, heal, extend mercy, befriend, encourage, and inspire.

What would become the United States of America was not merely a haven for different Christian groups from England and Europe. For many colonial American Christian leaders, it was also a model of what was envisioned by Peter the apostle when he spoke at the festival of the Pentecost a short time after Jesus’ ascension and by John, years later, when, banished to the island of Patmos, he envisioned those who were redeemed “out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9-10). It is important to note that within that vision, the redeemed were not identified by their church polity, interpretive stance, racial or ethnic origin, but having come from every tribe, tongue, people and nation whether Slavic, Germanic, Scandinavian, African, Asian, or whatever. It would take another century for some incoming church groups to set aside prejudices and begin to co-operate in both evangelism and outreach and in some cases merge.

Adoniram Judson in 1846.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

In the young USA, only sixteen years old, a meeting occurred near the newly formed Williams College that sparked America’s initial entry into the Christian world mission. This event is referred to in American history as the Haystack Meeting in August of 1806. Several students of Williams College at Williamstown, Massachusetts, gathered for prayer in the shadow of a haystack close to the school. Among the students were Samuel Mills, James Richards, Adoniram Judson, Robert Robbins, Harvey Loomis, and Bryan Green. The news of Carey, his wife, and family departing from England to spread the gospel in India and translating the Scripture into the language spoken near Calcutta reached America and spread to Williams College. The news lit a fire in the hearts of the six young men. Of the six of them, Adoniram Judson decided to meet William Carey in India.

The Haystack Prayer Meeting of 1806 has been considered the beginning of America’s entry into the Christian world mission. It was, however, in 1810, that the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was formed by Baptist churches who set aside their extreme congregationalism to in order to have a General Convention the purpose of which was to enable and support Baptist missionaries around the world. It was under this Board that Adoniram Judson and his wife were able to make contact with William Carey in Calcutta and then go on to southeast Asia.

The evangelistic outburst in mid-America, often referred to as the Second Great Awakening, was not an altogether novel idea. It was a sudden earnestness in Christian devotion and discipleship. It made headway from the leadership of Timothy Dwight, president of Yale University, grandson of Jonathan Edwards. As it spread into the trans-Appalachian west, two of the leading figures were Thomas and Alexander Campbell in Pennsylvania, Barton Warren Stone, a New Light Presbyterian, in Kentucky, and Peter Cartwright, a Methodist Circuit Rider who once took evangelism into a dance hall. He later served in the United States Congress as a representative from Illinois.

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