Craig Keener introduces the link to this interview by saying, “Donna Covington is Asbury’s vice president of formation and served as a top executive in a major corporation. Shortly after his graduation from college, her son, with a promising career ahead of him, was confronted with racist epithets and shot to death by a white man. The white man has not spent a single day in jail for this. She shares her heart wrenching story in this 25-minute video interview I did with her.”

Todd M. Johnson, “Pentecostal/Charismatic Christianity” GordonConwell.edu (May 27, 2020).

The Gordon-Conwell page describes this as “a short excerpt from the World Christian Encyclopedia, 3rd edition (Edinburgh University Press).”

Craig Keener, “Racism contradicts evangelicals’ Gospel” CraigKeener.com (July 6, 2020).

Craig Keener introduces this blog post, with links to a June 2020 statement and other posts about racial justice, by saying: “I and some other evangelical scholars recently issued a very basic statement.”

Image: Joey Kyber

J. Lee Grady, “How a Brave Black Woman Is Challenging Black Lives Matter” Fire In My Bones (July 29, 2020).

B. J. Oropeza, “Jesus and Ancient Biography: An Interview with Craig S. Keener on His Recent Book, Christobiography” Patheos (July 26, 2020).

Craig Keener, “Signs of the Kingdom: Miracles in the New Testament and Today” Carl F. Henry Center for Theological Understanding (March 12, 2020).

Craig Keener introduced this lecture: “Creation Project on special divine action, at Carl F. Henry Center for Theological Understanding, Trinity International University, sponsored my lecture on signs of the kingdom in early spring 2020.”

B. J. Oropeza, “The Latest on Galatians: An Interview with Craig Keener on His Recent Book, Galatians: A Commentary” Patheos (August 10, 2020).

Sam Storms, “10 Questions about Spiritual Gifts” Crossway.org (September 5, 2020).

Craig Keener, “Experiential Reading: The Means to Embracing Scripture” CraigKeener.com (September 4, 2020).

Craig Keener writes: “… we need to hear Scripture with faith, embracing it in our personal lives. A reader may embrace a false idea when taking Scripture out of context, but a reader who understands it in context yet does not embrace its demands on one’s trust also misses its function as Scripture. As Christians, we read the Bible with personal faith – not only to understand it but to embrace its message and theological worldview as true for the world in which we live.”

Frank Viola, “A Word to My Miracle-Obsessed Friends” FrankViola.org (September 17, 2020).

PR

In January 1991, I attended the National Reserve Officers Association Midwinter Conference at the Washington, D.C. Hilton Hotel. I was an Air Force Reserve chaplain with the rank of Captain. I had initially decided not to go to the conference.

One week before it began, however, I received a telephone call from the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, Colorado. The voice on the other end stated, “May I speak with Chaplain Linzey?”

Image: Jeremy Yap

“I am he,” I replied.

“You have been selected by the Military Airlift Command Headquarters at Scott AFB, Illinois, to go with orders to the National Reserve Officers Association Midwinter Conference at the Washington, D.C.

Though I could have declined the offer, the Holy Spirit instantly told me to go. I discerned something unusual in the phone call. I said to the sergeant on the phone, “Yes, I will attend. Please send me the tickets.”

The tickets arrived that Saturday. I arrived Sunday in Washington, D.C. The conference began on Monday morning. My orders were to attend leadership seminars each day. On Tuesday, the second morning of the conference, at nearly 10:00 a.m., while I was going down an escalator between leadership seminars, another Air Force officer, Major Rick Kuhlman, was coming up the other escalator. As we passed one another, I noticed that he was looking directly at me. I had never seen him in my life. Naturally, I looked away.

When I reached the bottom of my escalator and got off, I heard a commotion. I turned around just in time to see the major running down his escalator to catch up with me. He introduced himself. “I’m Major Rick Kuhlman. Are you a chaplain?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“I saw the cross on your uniform while you were coming down the escalator. There are 1,300 officers and their wives at this conference. You are the only Air Force chaplain I have seen here. We are having an Air Force luncheon at 12:00. I was asked to give the invocation because no Air Force Chaplain was known to be present. Would you be willing to give the invocation?”

“Yes, I would be delighted to,” I said.

“What denomination are you?”

“Pentecostal Church of God.”

“Meet me at the head table. I’ll save a seat for you and we’ll get more acquainted.”

Two hours later, I met Major Kuhlman at the head table in the banquet hall. Just after the program began, I was introduced to deliver the invocation. While we were eating, I asked Major Kuhlman about his background. He told me he was a born-again Christian and Southern Baptist by church affiliation. We had a delightful time of fellowship.

After the luncheon, we parted ways. However, Major Kuhlman caught up with me again in the main corridor outside the banquet hall.

“Tonight, there is going to be a prayer meeting. Would you like to come?” he inquired.

“I would be delighted to attend.”

“I don’t know where it will be yet. I’ll give you a call this evening with the details.”

“That will be fine. I look forward to it.”

After the leadership seminars had concluded for the day, I had dinner and went to my hotel room to rest before the prayer meeting. At approximately 6:00 p.m., the phone rang in my room. It was the major.

“Good evening, Chaplain Linzey,” the major said.

“Good evening Major Kuhlman,” I replied.

“The prayer meeting will be at 7:00. Can you still attend?”

“Yes, I would like to,”

“We have not found a location yet. Can we have it in your room?”

“Certainly,” I answered. “I look forward to it.”

“There will only be two people coming—a first lieutenant and me. The first lieutenant is a missileer from Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. His name is P.K. Wheeler. He goes by ‘P.K.’”

“That’ll be fine. I’m looking forward to it,” I replied.

As soon as we hung up, the Holy Spirit immediately told me that someone was going to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit at the prayer meeting. I did not know whether it would be the major or the first lieutenant. But I began praying that God would give me guidance to minister effectively to that individual. Neither did I know how the prayer meeting would be conducted, but under the leading of the Holy Spirit, I began to review the Scriptures I had planned to share with them and then spent time on my knees beside my bed praying.

Promptly at 7:00 p.m., there was a knock on my door. I opened the door, and there stood the major and the first lieutenant.

“Good evening, Chaplain Linzey.”

“Good evening,” I replied.

“I would like to introduce you to First Lieutenant P.K. Wheeler,” the major said.

“I’m glad to meet you. Please, come on in.”

After we were seated at my small hotel room table, the major said, “P.K. is a relatively new Christian. This morning you stated that you were a Pentecostal chaplain. Would you pray with P.K. to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit?”

My heart melted. The major instantly confirmed what the Holy Spirit told me when I hung up the phone an hour earlier.

“I would be glad to. Let’s open up the Word of God,” I replied.

For about thirty minutes, I read the Scriptures about how the Holy Spirit came upon judges, prophets, kings, and military leaders temporarily to fulfill a specific task; the promise of the Holy Spirit in Joel 2:28-29; John’s forecast of Jesus as the baptizer in the Spirit in Matthew 3: 11; Jesus’ prophecy of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Luke 24:49; the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:1-4; the subsequent filling of the Spirit in Acts 8:14-17, 10:44- 46, and 19:1-7, each with the manifestation of speaking in tongues. Then I explained the difference between devotional tongues and the gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians 14.

Afterward, I took a few minutes to answer questions the lieutenant had about the Scriptures.

Then I said to the lieutenant, “The major and I will be praying in the Spirit. During that time, I will lay my hand on your head to receive the baptism just as the apostles laid hands on believers to receive the baptism. Your lips will begin to tremble. At that moment if you will open your mouth and enter in with us by speaking anything you did not know, you will be speaking in tongues in a matter of moments.”

So the major and I began praying in tongues. After about a minute, I laid my hand on the lieutenant’s head and said, “Raise your hands.” Instantly, his lips began to tremble and he energetically began speaking in tongues with us.

After about 20 seconds, I said, “Stop.” I explained that the reason I told him to stop was to show that he was in full control of his speaking, as the Scripture says, “The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets” (1 Corinthians 14:32, MEV). Then to prove that he could begin speaking in tongues anytime he wished, I said, let’s pray in tongues some more.” We did.

I gave him further instruction about praying in the Spirit daily. Joy was all over his face, and we continued having a spiritual time of fellowship. The major was filled with excitement and said, “I have never heard it explained so simply before and I have never seen anyone receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit so easily.” He had been praying earnestly for the lieutenant to be filled with the Spirit. And it finally happened!

As soon as the men left my room, I lay down to rest again, and immediately, the Holy Spirit told me that this was the reason why He told me to accept the invitation to come to Washington, D.C.

A year later, I phoned Major Kuhlman to ask how the lieutenant was doing and asked, “Is he still speaking in tongues?”

“Yes, he’s still speaking in tongues, and he wants to know the Scriptures you shared with him, because he’s telling his Baptist pastor about it. Why don’t you call him up?”

The following day I phoned the lieutenant. He said, “I believe our meeting in Washington, D.C. was a divine appointment.”

“I believe you’re right,” I replied. “Have you been sharing your experience with others?”

“I’ve been sharing it with my Baptist pastor, and now he wants the baptism in the Holy Spirit, too! Would you please tell me again those Scriptures that you shared with me?”

“Certainly,” I answered.

Major Kuhlman also asked for the list of those Scriptures so that he could effectively teach others about the baptism. I have followed the biblical model for decades in ministering in the baptism in the Holy Spirit and I have seen thousands receive it as a result. To many people, the baptism in the Holy Spirit seems difficult to receive or only for the especially holy. In reality, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is clearly and simply presented in Scripture. And it is for all believers.

Here are the Scriptures I shared in Washington, D.C., and the five Scriptural I followed that can help you in praying with others to receiving the baptism in the Spirit:

1. Study the Scriptural foundation by reading Joel 2:28-29; Matt. 3:11; Luke 24:49; John 7:37-39; Acts 1:8, 2:1-18, 2:38-39, 8:14-17, 10-44-46, 19:1-7; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 6:19, 12:13, and 14:10 and 14.
2. Inform the believers that you will begin to pray in the Spirit (speak in tongues).
3. Inform them that when you lay your hand on their heads, to raise their hands and enter in with you. They are not to speak in their native language. As Oral Roberts said, “Get with those who are praying in the Spirit and enter in.”
4. Encourage them to speak out by faith, for every utterance has meaning with God according to 1 Cor. 14:10 (MEV). It is impossible to make a mistake. There is no counterfeit.
5. After believers speak in tongues, encourage them to do so daily. Believers who do not speak out by faith should not be made to feel guilty. Be encouraging and willing to pray together with the believers again if they need more encouragement.

May God bless you as you lay hands on and pray with others to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

PR

It is easy to agree that human beings are created in the image of God. More debate may arise if we widen the idea to say that humankind as a whole—humanity if you will—reflects the divine image. The difference between the two may be described as the primary focus of the kind of public theology that forms the subject of Daniela Augustine’s book. As the title suggests, she offers a vision of shared flourishing in the image of God that focuses on how God’s Spirit leads humanity to the common good. In her own terms, she pursues the question how a market-shaped world can be mended by the common good in the Spirit’s activity. This task leads through the question how we can get from the common image to the common good (Chapter 1) and how we turn from a world of violence that destroys God’s image to a life that reflects the new creation (Chapter 2). The way to answer these questions leads trough rather unusual terrain for Pentecostals: the recovery of the Eucharist as a sacrament of the divine presence in the realm of economics (Chapter 3) and the experience of forgiveness and reconciliation in the agency of the Spirit (Chapter 4). The book concludes with reflections on how Christians make this agency visible and what moral imperatives are gained for a concrete living community.

Daniela C. Augustine is Associate Professor of Theological Ethics at Lee University.

Augustine’s unusual repertoire for this volume comes from field work with the Pentecostal community in Eastern Slavonia and religion’s role in the transformation of postwar civil society. Augustine argues that “due to their historical neutrality in the conflict, the Pentecostals were uniquely positioned to provide safe space for social healing and facilitate reconciliation among the warring (Orthodox, Catholic, and Muslim) factions” (p. 5). This research provides the backdrop for writing a narrative of the human agency that contributes to the healing and flourishing of life, a hagiography, in the terms of the Christian traditions, or in Augustine’s contemporary terms, a narrative of “the socio-transformative capacity of the saints’ lives as pneumatic embodiment of the world’s eschatological future” (p. 7). That this imagery and vocabulary is not usual for Pentecostal discourse, especially in the West, and the application of this “ancient” Christian tradition, particularly with resources from Eastern Orthodoxy, to contemporary concerns for peace, justice, and forgiveness, on the one hand, and to economics and human flourishing, on the other, make this book both a constructive and creative as well as a challenging read.

Reviewed by Wolfgang Vondey

Publisher’s page: https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/4385/the-spirit-and-the-common-good.aspx

Dr. Mary and Canon Pearson
Image: Kristin Smith, used by permission

Canon Mark Pearson and his wife, Dr. Mary, founded the NCHC in Plaistow, New Hampshire, in 1994 to serve the spiritually barren New England area. Mary was trained as an Osteopathic physician, and is the leader of the NCHC medical team, which now includes two nurse practitioners, counselors and other staff. Mark is the CEO and spiritual director of the center, leading Spirit-filled healing prayers and pastoral care at Trinity Church.

Canon Mark is a priest and canon of the Charismatic Episcopal Church (CEC), one of the first of several “convergence” churches with an Anglican accent. That is, a church that attempts to unite historic liturgical and sacramental practices, the Evangelical love of Scripture and proclamation of the Gospel, and a Pentecostal appreciation and exercise of the gifts of the Spirit.

Mark Pearson was born and raised in the Boston area, received his undergraduate education in state at Williams College, and then an M.A. in theology from Oxford University (1973). He returned to the U.S. where he studied for the priesthood at Virginia Seminary and was ordained an Episcopal priest (1975). Fr. Pearson spent twenty years an Episcopal priest at several Episcopal churches.

Besides parish duties, he occupied much of his time attempting to bring biblical orthodoxy back to the Episcopal Church. He co-founded the Institute of Christian Renewal (ICR) in 1980 for that purpose.[3] Mark traveled extensively throughout the United States and worked with individual parishes and several Episcopal organizations, such as “Episcopalians United” and “Acts 29” to confront the growing apostasy of their denomination. The ICR continues to this day, headquartered out of the New Creation Healing Center, and like Trinity Church, legally distinct.

Fr. Pearson also taught healing courses and workshops at numerous churches, wrote multiple articles for Charisma as well as Sharing magazine, and taught a course on healing at Nashotah House Theological Seminary, an Episcopal seminary noted for its orthodoxy and traditionalism. Among the churches he influenced in regards to the healing ministry was Falls Church Anglican, highlighted in a previous article, where in 2001 he led a three day “mission” to teach and model healing prayer.[4] Mark also authored a major work on the Christian healing ministry that has an accent on the sacramental aspects of healing.[5]

Here is an example of a truly miraculous healing his prayer team prayed for back in 2004, witnessed by Mrs. Susan Gilbert:

About four years previously, I fell and broke my kneecap in three places. At that time the surgeon removed 2/3 of the kneecap, and tied the quadriceps to a hole drilled in the remaining small piece. As I was prying with the prayer team, there were some unusual movements below the knee and my quadriceps muscle went into spasms. I looked at it and discovered I appeared to have a whole kneecap!
I called Dr. Mary Pearson over, who examined both knees and found no difference between them. God graciously restored the knee to its proper shape … I can now kneel on the hard floor and I can even dance. I am more determined than ever to make sure lots of people know about God’s graciousness and healing power.[6]

However, the Episcopal Church and the UK and Canadian Anglican churches have been long plagued by divisions and separations starting at least as far back as the 1800s. The first of these splits related to liturgical and theological changes back in 1873, when the Reformed Episcopal Church left the Episcopal Church. In the 1960s, other churches also broke off from the Episcopal Church. These splits were mostly due in part to the liberal and even apostate drift in the Episcopal Church. For example, the “Death of God” theology of the 1960s, which was glamorized Deism, the heresy that God does not really interact with the church, and prayer is a psychological process that does not impact reality, etc.[7] Later, liberation theology gained a strong following in Episcopal seminaries and clergy. That theological movement glamorized Marxism and revolution, and did much damage in Latin America. The churches that split off in the 1960s are called “continuing churches” and most often are liturgical traditionalists, mostly using the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (not the 1979 version) and the 1940s hymnal. They all rejected the idea of ordaining women to the priesthood. There were several major continuing church groups, with different breaking points when they could no longer cross another line into heresy and wanted nothing more to do with the Episcopal hierarchy or seminaries.

As an Episcopal priest, Fr. Pearson took an interest in the developing Convergence movement. Even before he joined the CEC he was asked by Bishop Adler, founder and presiding bishop of the CEC, to be a CEC theological advisor. In fact, Bishop Adler at times has referred various times to Canon Mark Pearson as one of the co-founders of the CEC.

Pearson’s denomination, the CEC, and the other convergence denominations are relatively new, and do not consider themselves “continuing” denominations. These churches were founded in the 1990s by non-Anglican, Pentecostal and Vineyard pastors who loved the Episcopal liturgy but were appalled at what was going on in Episcopal seminaries, and would not submit to an unorthodox hierarchy.[8]

Bishop Adler, a Vineyard pastor for many years, established the CEC based on the idea of convergence (like Falls Church Anglican, he preferred the term “three streams” theology). Pastor Adler received a laying on of hands and ordination as Bishop (with Apostolic succession) by being ordained by Bishops from the Old Catholic Church, a group that separated from Roman Catholicism in the 1870s over the doctrine of Papal infallibility. He immediately brought in several congregations from California, and assumed that the growth of his denomination would be slow and steady. But in 1992 an article appeared in Ministries Today, an important Pentecostal/charismatic publication, which highlighted the CEC.[9] Bishop Adler received a flood of inquires and application from dissatisfied Episcopal priests, and Pentecostal ministers who wanted a liturgical structure added to their Pentecostalism.[10] CEC experienced very rapid expansion after this. In the last decades it had some “bumps along the road” which limited its further expansion, and in fact produced a contraction of churches and membership in the United States, but continued to grow overseas. However, that is a complex story to be told elsewhere.

In regard to Canon Pearson, after participating in CEC functions for two years, he and his wife left the Episcopal Church and were received into the CEC (1995). In his newsletter, Mark explained why he left the Episcopal Church where he had served faithfully for two decades.

Basic doctrines and moral teachings of historic Christianity are often denied or even ridiculed by church leaders. The phrases “inclusivity” and “a church in which there are no outcasts” are used by the liberal establishment, but many of the practices they are including are directly ruled out by Scripture.
…
The liberalism is so entrenched that the fight would have to be fierce. Many people do not have the disposition to fight. I’d rather spend the rest of my ministry proclaiming the Gospel, not dissipating my energy fighting.[11]

Mary Pearson is an osteopathic physician (DO). That is, a doctor with all the rights, privileges and training of an MD, but with slightly different focus of medical practice. The DO strives to be holistic in approach, using fewer medications, and spending more time with the patient to discern what emotional factors may be contributing to the patient’s disease. Dr. Pearson oversees all medical and therapeutic staff of the NCHC. She screens and interviews all medical and therapeutic applicants, and in addition to their professional credentials, she asks applicants for a statement of faith. Under the Pearson’s there will be no slide into medical secularism as happened to Dr. Cullis’s healing homes.

Dr. Pearson did not immediately take to mixing medical practice and prayer, at least not publicly, but came to it in stages. Let me cite her own words on an early case:

PG Was a 60-year-old alcoholic in recovery for few years. She had had a ventral hernia repaired previously with mesh, and came into my office after being sick for several days. It was immediately obvious she was seriously ill, dehydrated, and septic. I immediately admitted her to the hospital, and consulted surgery for her very distended abdomen. The surgeon took her to the OR, and found severe bowel necrosis (her intestines were rotting), and removed as much tissue as they could and sent her to the ICU.
The surgeons did not feel she had much hope for recovery, she was in acute renal failure, her general health was not great because of her previous medical history, and because she had delayed getting in to see me the infection had spread throughout her body.
I was still a little bit anxious about praying with my patients, and very anxious about what other healthcare providers would think about it! So I went to see her in the ICU, and examined her very thoroughly, waiting for the nurse to leave.
However her situation was so unstable that the nurse remained in the room, constantly adjusting fluids, and responding to her needs. I had been at the hospital for a long time that day, and was exhausted and needed to go home. However, I felt the pull of the Holy Spirit on my heart pray for her despite my fears. She was unconscious, so I spoke to her, using her name, (in front of the nurse! I was terrified), and prayed simply that God would heal her.
I really did not have very much faith (fortunately Jesus tells us we only need to have mustard seed sized faith) and anticipated a poor outcome. However, the next day I came in to see her, and the nurse, ( a different nurse than the one I had seen the previous night) told me she had had a quiet night, and her vital signs were now stable, and her kidney functions were almost back to normal! Much to everybody’s surprise she made a full recovery and lived many more years.
Another nice thing about this: the nurse who saw me pray for her later took me aside and said she was very impressed by the fact that I was willing to pray for my patients, and by how much the patient improved.

Later, when her confidence in medicine and prayer had increased:

A 7-year-old boy and his mother came in to see me. He had a very high fever and a stiff neck. He was lethargic, not his usual active self. Mom told me that he had been very sick over the last few days, she was very anxious about medical care, and did not want to take him to the emergency room as was my recommendation. I was concerned about the possibility of meningitis. I thought he needed a spinal puncture, blood work, and urgent IV antibiotics. She did consent to an injection of antibiotics, but I knew that this would not have enough of an effect if this really was meningitis.
By this time it was my custom to pray for all my patients if they would allow it. So I laid hands on him and asked God to heal him.
I planned to call mom later that afternoon, to see how he was doing, and to try to encourage her to take him to the emergency room. However, she called me back within an hour, and said you must have given him “something magical in that shop” because he was completely better and his fever was gone by the time I got him home! I explained to her that the antibiotic would take at least a few hours to start taking effect, but she remained convinced that the injection had cured her son. I tried to explain otherwise, to no avail; but this showed me how God is willing to work without recognition, simply because He loves us so much.

We have room enough to cite one more of her cases:

“MG” was an 80-year-old woman with severe osteoarthritis of her left hip. She had not done well with anti-inflammatory medications, but really wanted to avoid surgery. We discussed all her options and decided that we would send her to Orthopedics for cortisone injection. She was a little reluctant about this, and concerned about side effects.
Before she left, we prayed together, and asked Jesus to heal her hip. We scheduled a follow-up visit a month later. When she returned her pain was completely gone. I asked about how the visit with the orthopedist went. She looked at me reproachfully and said “I did not need to go, the prayer worked.” She was never bothered with this hip pain again.

The Meeting House
Image: Kristin Smith, used by permission

Besides Dr. Pearson, the NCHC has two nurse practitioners, a massage therapist, and counselors, all of whom combine prayer with their disciplines. It is intertwined, but legally distinct from Trinity Church, under Canon Pearson, who does Sunday and mid-week services at its meeting house. Sunday services are “convergent,” for instance, inviting the congregation to manifest the gifts of the Spirit such as tongues and prophecy during the praise songs segment of the services.

Trinity Church has a women’s Bible study, and men’s group, just like most churches. There is a mid-week healing service with the laying on of hands and regular sessions for inner healing prayer, which is an important element of the ministry at both Trinity Church and NCHC. There are specialized teaching days or weekend classes, co-sponsored with the NCHC, for instance “Finishing Life Well” or “Growing in God,” which deal with specialized issues more deeply than a Sunday sermon can.

At Trinity, there are several activities that would be unusual in most churches. Several times a week there is a period of gardening on the NCHC grounds where volunteers, under the direction of a master gardener, help grow food crops that are distributed to the local food pantry. On the third Friday of the month there is something called “Crafty Afternoons” where persons come in with craft projects to work on and fellowship with others of similar interests – a great idea not common in churches, but should be.[12]

As the NCHC grows in reputation people come from all over the United States to be healed and prayed for at NCHC. I can’t help but feel that Dr. Cullis and Dorothy Kerin are both looking down from heaven, joyfully praying for its continued success and growth. It is a difficult pattern to emulate, demanding just the right personnel, yet doable to those inspired and called to this type of Christian holistic ministry. My own dream is that every large diocese in America would make an effort to establish and fund institutions such as the NCHC.

PR

Notes

[1] Similarly in Colonial times the “meeting house” was used for government business on week days and church services on Sunday. The NCHC webpage: http://newcreationhc.org

[2] For a description of the first American “healing home” see my description of Dr. Cullis’ ministry in my, Quenching the Spirit (Lake Mary: Creation House, 1996) chapter 9.

[3] ICR’s webpage is at: https://christianrenewal.wordpress.com/

[4] On Falls Church Anglican see my article “Falls Church Anglican: The Long March to Healing Excellence,” Pneuma Review. Posted April 19, 2020. http://pneumareview.com/the-falls-church-anglican-the-long-march-to-healing-ministry-excellence/

[5] Mark Pearson, Christian Healing: A Practical and Comprehensive Guide (Lake Mary: Creation House, 2004).

[6] Adapted from the ICR newsletter, June/July 2006, p.3.

[7] In my work, Agnes Sanford and Her Companions, I documented that the Death of God’s most prolific and celebrated theologian, Thomas J. J. Altizer, was demonically possessed from the beginning of his theological career, see pp. 294-295.

[8] In fact, the CEC does not consider itself an Anglican denomination, but entirely distinct, but its Anglican style of worship and hierarchy would convince most observers that it is at least an Anglican type of church. “If it quacks like a duck…”

[9] Paul Thigpen, “Ancient Altars, Pentecostal Fire,” Ministries Today (Nov/Dec 1992), 43-51.

[10]A telling personal story: In 1992, I was in the Episcopal Church and in a prayer group of a wholly orthodox Episcopal church, St. Jude’s of Marietta, Georgia. The prayer group leader, David, felt a vocation to the priesthood and had an interview about this with the Episcopal Bishop of Atlanta. The Bishop told him that he was not the type of candidate he wanted as he was “male, white and too orthodox” in his beliefs. A month after that calamitous interview I read the Ministries Today piece on the CEC and handed it to David. He wrote to Bishop Adler, and after going through the online seminary was ordained a CEC priest, and founded a small but enthusiastic CEC Church.

[11]Mark Pearson, “A Note From the President,” ICR Newsletter (Jan. 1995), 2. See a very similar statement by a long-time Episcopal layman, Art Benning “Why I Left the Episcopal Church,” Acts 29 (Feb., 1995), 12.

[12] Prof. Glenn Clark, the founder of the CFO had a similar idea that was practiced in his summer retreats. He called them “creatives,” and they included painting, poetry writing, drama skits, and other items not normally common to church programs. Recently an article appeared in Christianity Today describing the spiritual side of doing a hobby: Brianne Lambert, “Worship God: Start a Hobby,” Christianity Today, Jan. 16, 2020. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/january-web-only/work-sabbath-worship-god-start-hobby.html

Pastor Joseph Fiorentino reviews a classic book about the Azusa Street Revival in the early Twentieth Century, the birthplace of the Pentecostal movement.

Cover from the 2000 edition.

Frank Bartleman, Azusa Street: An Eyewitness Account to the Birth of the Pentecostal Revival (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1982), 171 pages, ISBN 9780883686386.

The turn of the twentieth century marked a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. New life was breathed into receptive parts of the Church universal as a result of the overwhelming spiritual hunger for God in people like Frank Bartleman. In the aptly named book Azusa Street, originally published as Another Wave Rolls In, Frank Bartleman painstakingly records the events leading up to the apparent and influential revival at the Azusa Street Mission in 1906 and a behind-the-scenes look at the many other supernatural works of the Holy Spirit taking place in various locations around the world. In addition, Bartleman unknowingly lays the early groundwork for burgeoning Pentecostal doctrines such as the baptism of the Holy Spirit evidenced by speaking in tongues, prayer, revival, and eschatology—all important emphases in his reflections.

Frank Bartleman was the son of a Pennsylvania farmer who decided that farming was not for him. Shortly after his conversion to Christ, Bartleman engaged in full-time ministry; however, his allegiance to any one Christian organization was always short-lived, moving from church to church or group to group. His constant migration brought him and his family across the entire country to Sacramento where he worked at a Holiness mission. Difficult circumstances brought Bartleman and his family to Los Angeles in December of 1904. Just one month later, the family lost their first-born child, Esther. Her death prompted Bartleman to give his life fully to God which was realized as “a great burden and cry … for a mighty revival” (8).

The Azusa Mission was a spiritual haven for people from diverse races, colours, and national origins. The atmosphere seemed to be filled with God’s love and many desired the baptism of the Holy Spirit. All people were treated with equity at the Azusa Mission. Bartleman wrote, “We had no respect of persons. The rich and educated were the same as the poor and ignorant …” (56). It was this egalitarian belief that reinforced Bartleman’s negative attitude towards any form of hierarchy and ecclesiasticism. William J. Seymour was responsible for the Mission, but ultimately God was in control of the revival. Bartleman described God’s direction by writing, “Demons are being cast out, the sick healed, many blessedly saved, restored, and baptized with the Holy Spirit and power” (64). In Bartleman’s understanding, this three-year move of God was possible because “the whole place [Azusa Mission] was steeped in prayer” (58).

It was prayer that led Bartleman to start a mission at Eighth and Maple Streets, and it was in this particular mission that he first spoke in tongues. Almost ten pages of this book are dedicated to his supernatural experience. Bartleman, quite unintentionally, laid out a simple doctrine of the baptism of the Holy Spirit—which is quite ironic since, in his view, doctrine binds and causes division within the church. One element of the baptism, which stands out from the rest, is Bartleman’s observation that all who received the baptism of the Spirit also spoke in tongues. In his personal experience, a person fully yielded to and wanting more of God will not struggle or have difficulty receiving the baptism of the Spirit. But “the baptism is not all tongues,” writes Bartleman, it is a “place of illumination and abandonment” (80). Finding himself in this spiritual place, Bartleman decided to hand over responsibility for the Eighth and Maple Streets mission and started out on a global ministry tour that lasted about three years.

Between 1907 and 1911, Frank Bartleman traveled throughout the United States, the Middle East, and Asia preaching in various churches. When he was back home in Los Angeles, he observed that the local missions were in bad shape spiritually, especially Azusa Mission. But this condition at Azusa would change upon the arrival of William Durham to the mission in early 1911. Durham ministered in Azusa Mission until Seymour had him locked out: Durham rented a mission at Seventh and Los Angeles Streets and “Azusa became deserted” (118). According to Bartleman, 1911 was a wonderful year for Durham’s mission because “much of the old-time power and glory of the Azusa Mission days returned to us” (120). Subsequently, the years 1912 to 1914 were spent doing mission work in Europe, but the war forced Bartleman to return home.

The last chapter of Azusa Street consists of a message that Bartleman wrote in 1925. In this message, Bartleman presents his concerns about movements and what must take place so that they continue moving forward according to God’s eternal purpose. There are five “we must” statements which pave the way towards the full restoration of the true Church. The first and fourth declare unity, “We must work for the kingdom of God as a whole, not for some pet individual party, organization, or movement” (137) and “We must recognize the whole body of Christ” (142). Bartleman speaks out against the “isms” that separate the one, whole body of Christ: hierarchicalism, ecclesiasticism, sectarianism, and denominationalism. The second of the five statements is simple yet motivating, “We must keep moving!” (138). Bartleman’s point is that until “full restoration” of the Church is realized, Christians must continue to forge ahead seeking God in unity. The third statement pushes toward theological reform, “We need a readjustment of all our doctrines to the full, clear light of God in the Word” (138). Analyzing and redefining past experiences in “clear light” will bring the “church within the church” to full maturity. The fifth and last declarative touches on heart and attitude, “We must have the spirit of Caleb and Joshua, a different spirit from the multitude” (144). For Bartleman, the key to full restoration involves joining “God in His great movement” for the end is near!

Early Pentecostals used eschatological rhetoric quite frequently because they believed that the return of Jesus Christ was imminent. Throughout the book, Bartleman uses phrases like “we are rounding the corner,” “the end of the age,” “we are nearing the awesome climax,” “we are rapidly approaching the last days,” “we are reaching the culmination of this age,” and “this last hour,” which provides the reader with a powerful sense of urgency. His tract, “The Last Call” is another example of an urgent call to repentance and is strongly indicative of the early Pentecostal understanding of the apocalyptic Scriptures.

As much as Azusa Street is an eyewitness account of the mighty spiritual revival at the Azusa Mission, it is also a cautionary corrective for every Pentecostal or Charismatic follower of Christ. We must work towards unity in the body of Christ. We must continue to seek all that God has for us, while maintaining a spirit of humility and repentance before the Spirit of God. Jesus is coming back soon!

Reviewed by Joe Fiorentino

Further Reading:

Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., The Azusa Street Mission And Revival: The Birth of the Global Pentecostal Movement (Thomas Nelson, 2006).

Darrin J. Rodgers, “The Azusa Street Revival: What Frank Bartleman’s Eyewitness Account Reveals about the Worldview of Early Pentecostals” iFPHC.org (March 9, 2017).

Hope and Community constitutes the fifth and final of the planned volumes for Kärkkäinen’s opus, A Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World. Constructive theology is different from traditional systematic and dogmatic theologies in that constructive theologies are purposely interconfessional, interdisciplinary and interreligious and intercultural (cf. p. xvii). Less attention is paid to biblical and exegetical issues and more to engaging with the “truths” and perspectives of those outside one’s group. Kärkkäinen believes that truth can be found outside of Christianity and that external perspectives are useful in helping us understand our own beliefs more fully. For readers, accustomed to foundationalist approaches to theology, Kärkkäinen’s coherentist approach can be quite disorienting. Nevertheless, those, willing to be led on this journey with no defined destination will find the path full of thought-provoking insights both for Christian theology and their understanding of the great religions of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Like other volumes, Kärkkäinen disrupts the typical sequence of topics by discussing eschatology (i.e., hope) before the church (i.e., community). How much that disruption helps reorient readers, I will let readers decide for themselves. Part 1 delves into the topic of hope or eschatology. He discusses eschatology regarding three spheres, personal and communal, human and cosmic, and present and future (p.17). As is characteristic of constructive theologies, Kärkkäinen investigates how science understands the end. He accepts Science’s negative predictions based on a Neo-Malthusian understanding of humanity’s impact on creation. But Kärkkäinen should be commended for reminding scientists that they often make non-scientific statements as they move to metaphysical ones. He then reviews, in a non-critical manner, how eschatological themes are taken up by Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.

In chapter 7, Kärkkäinen addresses the ecofeminist criticism that Christianity’s focus on the afterlife allowed her members to ignore/degrade the present condition of the planet. He correctly rejects the notion that belief in the afterlife requires a rejection of the present but grants too much weight to the socialist’s critique of capitalism and biocentrism’s critique of anthropocentrism as sources of environmental degradation. Though Kärkkäinen’s reading list is enormous, he neglected to read works sufficiently critical of the so-called environmental movement such as my own, Dominion over Wildlife? An Environmental-Theology of Human-Wildlife Relations (2009) or by E. Calvin Beisner to name two. The fact is many of the nations who have degraded their environments have anti-Christian cultures allowing rampant corruption along with the lack of economic freedom required by capitalism.

On the thorny subject of heaven and hell, Kärkkäinen offers what he calls “hopeful universalism”. He is hopeful that God will provide a way for all to accept Christ without violating the personal choice of those who persist in rejecting him. Those of a Calvinistic persuasion will find much to critique in this chapter.

Kärkkäinen addresses other topics such as the church’s nature (i.e. triumphant vs militant) and her offices. Surprisingly, he does not even believe that the Bible mandates any particular offices in the first place. But if there are to be offices, women should have equal access to hold them. Sadly, the lack of exegetical discussion diminished the force of his views for this reader.

In this final volume, Kärkkäinen does take a few pages to revisit his methodology (pp. 1-4). He reiterates his commitment to a post-foundationalist (i.e. coherentist) theory of truth. He affirms the necessity of integrating insights from outside one’s faith to help reduce, but not eliminate, the inherent biases of our cultural-historical conditionedness. Kärkkäinen is certainly a careful thinker, who seeks to avoid the traps and naivete of arbitrary dogmatisms. But he made a couple of comments that were troubling to me. On page 2 he writes, “… we hasten to add that we humans never have a direct, uncontested access to the infinitely incomprehensible God.” I appreciate where he is probably coming from, that there is a distinction between how we perceive something versus the nature of the thing itself, but can a Christian affirm that? Did Paul when he was taken to the third heaven have direct access to God? What about Paul’s Damascus Road encounter? Perhaps more troubling is the statement from page 3 which says, “That tradition, however, is neither a straitjacket that limits creative pursuit of knowledge nor a basis for mere repetition and defense.” I would agree that tradition is not a straitjacket as that is too restrictive. But tradition does act as a guard rail on the road that tells us the absolute limits of orthodoxy. Jude 3 assumes that there is a tradition, a body of faith that is fixed. Accept it or deny it but don’t tweak it. I would simply ask, “Are Christians called to be creative or faithful?” I wonder if academics, under pressure to always say something new, are too often motivated to be creative at the expense of faithfulness. We can be creative but in our presentation, not the substance. Ultimately, we must ask ourselves, “What is the substance of the faith that empowers us to evangelize like the Apostles did?” If we make that faith too uncertain, too squishy, too historicized, what is there left to care about let alone share with the world?

To conclude, I thought I would highlight several benefits that readers can glean from this series.

1. Categories. Kärkkäinen provides readers with lots of helpful categories and distinctions on a range of topics. These alone are worth the price of the series.
2. Engagement with world religions. Kärkkäinen has done some heavy lifting by outlining the beliefs of various religions and how they relate to similar areas within Christianity. If you are interested in inter-religious dialogue or apologetics, you would do well to get started here.
3. Science and Christianity. Though the series is not focused on science and religion, Kärkkäinen’s engagement of cutting-edge scientific theories/speculations are helpful introductions to some very arcane, but important, topics. His analysis of time/space, and mind/brain are particularly noteworthy.
4. Lack of Evangelical shibboleths. If you wish to learn how to write about Christian theology while avoiding Evangelical buzzwords or fighting words, then Kärkkäinen’s volumes will lead the way.

Reviewed by Stephen M. Vantassel

Preview Hope and Community: https://books.google.com/books/about/Hope_and_Community.html?id=eCxbDwAAQBAJ

Publisher’s page: https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/6857/hope-and-community.aspx

Read Stephen M. Vantassel’s reviews of all five books in Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen’s series A Constructive Christian Theology for the Pluralistic World:

Volume 1: Christ and Reconciliation

Volume 2: Trinity and Revelation

Volume 3: Creation and Humanity

Volume 4: Spirit and Salvation

Volume 5: Hope and Community

Dr. Michael Brown is a very well-known author who is quite prolific. He seems to be ever widening the field of topics that he writes about. The Power of Music is unique in that he has not written a book about this subject before. As the title of the book indicates music has power, it has influence, it has the ability to move people. Its influence can be either positive or negative. In this book Dr. Brown looks at both the constructive and destructive power that music can exert.

The book consists of a preface, an introduction, and twelve chapters. In the course of these chapters the author focuses on a variety of topics related to music. For example, chapter 1 is very autobiographical; Brown writes about his own journey and the part that music has played in his life. He was very interested in rock music when he was a teenager, he played it and attended a lot of the concerts put on by the musical celebrities of the day, groups like the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Led Zeppelin. He also writes about how the hymns that were sung in the Pentecostal church he started to attend impacted him. In other chapters, he moves on to describe the impact of music in the wider culture. In chapter 3, Brown cites Daniel J. Levitin who pointed out the pervasiveness of music in our world; it can be heard at weddings, graduations, funerals, sporting events, and in many other settings (page 31). In chapter 5, the author shows how the Communists promoted their message through song. In chapter 6, he writes about the part that music played in the United States during the time of the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War (pages 62-70). Later in the book, Brown highlights the significant place that music occupies in Scripture (pages 142-152). Music is significant in both the secular and spiritual world. It cannot be denied that there is power in music, it engages our minds and moves our hearts and emotions.

Reviewed by John Lathrop

Preview The Power of Music: https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Power_of_Music.html?id=0Nl7DwAAQBAJ

Image: Niklas Hamann

Some quotations from the article:

There is a sense a panic among some Evangelicals about the possibility of a Biden-Harris victory this November. These fervent Trump supporters are certain that such victory will result in the resumption of the Paganization of America, with increased Christian persecution and the total spiritual ruin of our nation.

I personally do not share these catastrophic expectations …

The political campaign of 1799 was full of mud-slinging and exaggerations just like modern campaigns (alas). The Democratic-Republicans accused the Federalist of backing England in its struggle against France with the purpose of ultimately establishing an aristocratic government in the United States, just like in England. The Federalists accused the Democratic Republicans and Jefferson of favoring the Terror of the French Revolution (guillotine and all). They asserted that if Jefferson won, America would experience a similar reign of Terror, Deism would be established as the official state religion, and “women would be ravaged in the streets.” … The Jefferson administration did not turn out anything like the catastrophic expectations of the Federalist had prophesied.

… revival can come again to America regardless of who is president. Revival seems to depend on two factors: God’s sovereignty, and the Christians’ persistence in repenting on behalf of the nation and praying for revival.

“On the Possibility of Revival under a Biden Administration”

To read the full article: http://www.pentecostaltheology.com/revival-under-a-biden-administration

Paul King is a pastor, theologian, historian, and educator. In his book, Is It of God, he provided much needed biblical and practical counsel about discernment. This article is a chapter from the second volume of Is It of God, bringing seasoned wisdom to a controversial topic.

It is clear from Scripture that God does speak through dreams, It is also clear from Scripture that not all dreams are from God. It is thus not a question of whether or not they can be genuinely of God, but a question of discernment of their source (God, self, or demonic), as well as discerning their meaning.

John Wesley gives us wise counsel for today: “Do not hastily ascribe things to God. Do not easily suppose dreams, voices, impressions, visions or revelations to be from God. They may be from Him. They may be from Nature. They may be from the devil. Therefore, believe not every spirit, but ‘try the spirits whether they be from God.’”

God’s Purposes for Dreams, Visions, and Voices

In talking with Job, Elihu first of all acknowledges that God does speak through dreams: “Indeed God speaks once, or twice, yet no one notices it. In a dream, a vision of the night, when sound sleep falls on men, while they slumber in their beds…” (Job 33:14-15). Then through poetic Hebrew parallelism he gives three purposes of God for dreams:

• Revelation/Instruction: “Then He opens the ears of men and seals their instruction” (v. 16). To “open” is a word of revelation, disclosure, discovery, as to prophets (Amos 3:7; 1 Sam 3:7, 21; 9:15). It is also used of visions and trances (Num 24:4, 16). God gives instruction through dreams and visions, and seals it, meaning that it is authenticated. God sometimes does this through repeated dreams or visions (v. 14).
• Correction/Humbling: “That He may turn man aside from his conduct and keep man from pride” ( (v 17). Dreams and visions can lead to repentance as when Isaiah cried out, “I am a man of unclean lips!”
• Warning of Spiritual, Emotional, or Physical Danger: “He keeps back his soul from the pit and his life from passing over into Sheol” (v 18). Joseph was warned through a dream to go to Egypt to avoid Jesus being killed by Herod (Matt 2:13).

Additional Purposes of God

• Understanding the thoughts of our mind. God may use dreams as an allegory of life to reflect our souls—to reveal inner thoughts, feelings, distress, etc. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that God revealed to Daniel the mystery his dreams “for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind” (Dan 2:30).
• Stirring faith in Christ. Saul’s vision and hearing the voice of Jesus on the Damascus road brought him to faith in Christ, Many Muslims are coming to faith in Christ from visions and dreams.
• Giving ministry insight and direction. Ananias was given a vision instructing him to go and minister to Saul. God sometimes gives ministry assignments through visions and dreams.
• As catalysts for healing. Ananias was given further instructions to minister to the newly converted Saul who had “seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight” (Acts 9:12). God gave to both Ananias and Saul visions about healing.
• Encouragement and confirmation. Gideon had received a word from the Lord internally but had some hesitation. So the Lord gave him further confirmation through a dream and interpretation that others had received (Judges 7:12-15).

Dreams, then, can be tools of discernment for insight, revelation, and understanding from God; and for instruction, guidance, and encouragement much the same as the gift of prophecy. The Holy Spirit can use dreams to humble us, convict us of sin. and lead us to repentance and course change in our life.

Discerning Other Sources of Dreams and Visions

From Self

Meaningless dreams and visions from self. Sometimes I like to call some of these “pizza dreams”—from whatever we ate that night. Scripture indicates that some dreams have no interpretation. Some fly away (Job 20:8) or are swept away (Ps 73:19-20) and cannot be found or recalled. Thus there is no indication that they are from God or that God wants someone to learn something from them. Further, “in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness [or vanity]” (Eccl 5:7).

Meaningful dreams and visions from self. Not all dreams and visions from self are meaningless. Dreams may reveal a person’s inner psyche. This is the common psychological approach and is often speculative, subjective, and very secular—like the dream interpretation theories of Freud and Jung. Although elements of truth may be found in their theories that correspond to Scripture, most elements of their theories are unbiblical and unreliable. (I speak not as a psychologist, but as a theologian and pastor with psychology and counseling training who believes in Christian approaches to the field).

Scripture does show us that dreams can reveal unfulfilled desires. God exposes what we hunger and thirst after (Isa 29:8). God makes clear that some dreams or visions are unsatisfying, leaving a person discontented or disappointed: “… like a dream, a vision of the night. It will be as when a hungry man dreams—and behold, he is eating; But when he awakens, his hunger is not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams—and behold, he is drinking, but when he awakens, behold, he is faint and his thirst is not quenched” (Isa 29:7-8).

Such dreams that leave the soul empty and unfulfilled are from self, not from God, and God does not suggest any possible interpretation or meaning to be found in Him. Although they are not dreams from God and may be due to inner conflicts such as stress or anxiety, God may use such dreams to expose a person’s inner self—and reveal that the person needs to find their fulfillment in God.

Dreams and visions from one’s own imagination. God also exposes visions and dreams that are neither from God nor from Satan, but from one’s own self or imagination: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord” (Jer 23:16).

Dreams from the deceptions of the heart. Because the unredeemed or unsanctified heart is deceitfully wicked, God says that some dreams and visions come from the deceitfulness of the heart: “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart” (Jer 23:25-26). Such false dreams lead people astray, lead to reckless boasting, and do edify (Jer 23:32).

Filthy polluting dreams and visions. Jude writes of filthy dreamers [or polluting dreams] that defile the flesh: “these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties” (Jude 8). Some translations render it “filthy dreamers.” Commentators note that Jude is referring to the false prophets of Jeremiah 23 and the deceitful dreams and visions of their heart.

From Satan or Demonic Sources

Some people have claimed that all dreams are from God. To do so, one must ignore, deny, and wrench Scripture out of its context. The IVP Bible Background Commentary affirms from the biblical context, “Dreams were one of the standard means for receiving messages from a god in the ancient Near East.” It was clearly understood in biblical days that some dreams were supernatural communication from alternatives sources to Yahweh, which were evil spirits. Therefore, the context to the Israelites was clear: Prophetic dreams as supernatural signs and wonders from Yahweh did indeed occur, but such dreams could occur in other religions as well, and even those dreams could well come true. However, their fulfilment did not mean they were from Yahweh, so stay away from them.

Scripture shows that angels sometimes appear in visions and dreams. Most of these mentioned in Scripture are angels from God, but Paul also warns: “though we, or an angel from heaven preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached, let him be accursed” (Gal 1:8). And again, “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). If an angel can appear in a dream or vision (as Scripture affirms), and if an angel can preach a false gospel (as Scripture warns), and if Satan does indeed disguise himself as an angel of light (which Scripture assures) then an angel in a dream or vision can preach a false gospel or be a satanic angel of light. Just because you see a bright angel in your dream or vision, it does not automatically mean it is from God.

Image: Tom Eversley

We read above that in Jeremiah 23 some dreams come not from God but from one’s imagination. However, the case is different a few chapters later in Jeremiah 27, in which God warns even more strongly, “Do not listen to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers … who prophesy a lie to you” (Jer 27:9). Dreamers and prophets are here lumped together with diviners, sorcerers, and enchanters. While it is possible that some of these may have feigned some supernatural encounters, each of these had real demonic occult roots in the supernatural. Therefore, such dreamers and prophets are supernaturally prophesying against Yahweh’s counsel from the same occultic sources. The inference, then, is that the source of the prophecies and revelations of the dreamer and prophets are occultic.

Zechariah gives another example of false supernatural dreams and visions: “For the demons have spoken vanity and the diviners have seen a lying vision and have spoken a revelatory word of false dreams” (Zech 10:2).[i] Such demonically-inspired dreams and visions seduce people to go after other gods and not follow Yahweh (Deut 13:1-5) and lead people astray into the occult (Jer 27:9-10). God takes dreams, visions, and prophecies seriously. He warns not to mess around with them, not to speak from our own imagination or expose ourselves to demonic dreams.

Other Yellow and Red Light Danger Alerts

Even though God sometimes uses dreams, visions, and voices as tools of discernment, we need to exercise discernment of the tools of discernment as well. Some of the danger signals that could indicate a Yellow Light or Red Light,[ii] include the following:

• Pride. God’s answer to Paul was “No,” not because he had sinned, not because he lacked faith, not because there was some curse on his life, but as a preventative measure—to keep Paul from pride in his visions and revelations. Madame Guyon, who experienced many supernatural revelations from God, also warned that Satan uses visions and dreams to convey vanity and self-love. She encourages us to die to self in order to insure safe visions and ecstasies.
• False guidance. Accepting such guidance without discernment provides a doorway for false supernatural encounters.
• Passivity. This will be discussed in Chapter 26, “Dangers of Passivity.”
• Seeking experiences or manifestations rather than God Himself. If you desire an experience so strongly that you are seeking after it rather than God Himself, the dark powers would love to provide you with a counterfeit manifestation that looks like the real thing. Visionaries such as Madame Guyon, Hildegard, and Teresa of Avila all emphasized making Christ central.
• Lucid dreaming that involves manipulating your dream or vision. Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden (1860–1932) coined the term “lucid dreaming” to describe the state of being asleep as well as being self-aware and “in control” of your dreams. Lucid dreaming is not of God when it goes beyond interacting within a dream to controlling the dream. This would be more akin to occult means and hypnosis, not an interactive dream from God.
• Danger of Accepting All Dream Thoughts Uncritically. Dreams are thoughts in our sleep. Can demons place a thought in our mind when we are awake? Of course. Then they can place a thought in our mind when we are asleep. The mind can be affected, influenced, distorted, controlled, deceived, or demonized (Mark 5:15; Luke 8:35); blinded (2 Cor 3:14; 4:4); and corrupted (2 Cor 11:3) by demonic powers—if when awake, certainly when asleep. Paul exhorts: “We are destroying speculations (“casting down imaginations”—KJV) and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor 10:4-5). This involves spiritual warfare against those thoughts, imaginations or speculations (including those in sleep) that rise up against true knowledge of God. We are to bring “every thought captive to obedience of Christ”—not just thoughts in wakening hours, but all thoughts, including those in the sleeping hours.
• Cautions in Fasting. Fasting led by the Spirit is biblical, but not all fasting is Spirit-led (Isa 58:3-5; Matt 6:16-17). Fasting in the flesh or prolonged excessive fasting and prayer combined with sleep deprivation, and/or asceticism can actually cause false manifestations—false visions, dreams, or voices. May Mabette Anderson cautioned that “a weakened body often gives the adversary easy access to the spirit.” A.B. Simpson expressed concern: “Good people who shut themselves up in cells and closets in weeks of fasting and prayer without proper exercise, nourishment or sleep, or without any change of mental or spiritual attention, are very apt to see visions and dream dreams that do not always come from above.

Discerning True and False in Dream Interpretation

We have seen from biblical examples that dream interpretation can be valid. However, we can also glean principles from Scripture about what is appropriate and what is not appropriate dream interpretation.

Danger of Jungian Dream Interpretation

While we recognize valid insights from psychological theory in harmony with Scripture, including some from Carl Jung, we must be very careful and eclectic in our acceptance of such theories. Great discernment is needed and they must be sifted through Scripture. Jung himself was influenced and fascinated by supernatural occult phenomena, thus opening up a person for psychic or demonic deception. Paul advises us, “But a natural [psyche—psychic, soulish] man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor 2:14).

Danger of Over-Spiritualizing

Don’t strain to get the meaning or attempt to find too much meaning in dreams and visions. As with Jesus’ parables, dreams and visions usually have one main theme, not necessarily spiritual significance with every detail. Paul warned not to go beyond what is written. When we over-allegorize or over-mystify, we are going beyond what is written (1 Cor 4:6). The mystical is only given to us by God for direction, awareness, and growth spiritually, not for relishing in the mysterious.

Discerning Dream Interpretation

• Dream interpretation must be led by the Spirit of God, not the soul of man. Even a lot of so-called “Christian” dream interpretation is subjective and speculative, not divinely-inspired. Joseph makes clear that he interprets not by his own ability or thoughts, but interpretation of dreams belongs to God (Gen 40:8, 16, 22; 41:12-16). The same term is used of Daniel’s interpretation of dreams (Dan 5:7, 8, 26) and was attributed, not to human or psychic ability but to the fact that “in whom is the spirit of the holy gods” (Dan 5:11, 12, 14).
• Record your dreams and visions. God told Habakkuk, “Record the vision, and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time …” (Hab 2:2). Keep a notepad or recorder handy, especially by your bed at night.
• Rather than seeking a dream interpretation book, seek the Lord and His Word for the interpretation. Many books on dream interpretation go far beyond Scripture. A good book on hermeneutics or biblical interpretation provides a sound guide.
• Pray for an interpretation. Sometimes you will not understand the meaning of the dream or vision you or another person has received. As you pray, the Holy Spirit may give you a word of knowledge or wisdom, a prophetic word, or tongues and interpretation to provide supernatural insight.
• Take time to reflect on the meaning and receive confirmation. Peter was reflecting on the meaning of the vision he had in a trance, and the Lord gave him the meaning and confirmation through a knock on the door (Acts 10:19). Joseph’s dream confirmed that Mary was indeed pregnant by the Holy Spirit and that he should take Mary as his wife.
• Understand that different symbols can signify the same thing (e.g., Gen 41:25—cows and stalks of grain).
• Understand that symbols can sometimes have opposite meanings depending upon the context. For example, a lion can be a divine or godly symbol (Jesus is called the Lion of Judah and the righteous are as bold as a lion) or a demonic symbol (Satan roars like a lion).
• Inanimate objects may be animated in dreams or visions. For example, in Joseph’s dreams, the sheaves of wheat, the sun, moon and stars bowed down.
• The interpretation may come later. Sometimes you may not know what it means or whom it is for at the time. Later, God reveals to you the meaning and the person to whom it applies as in the vision.
• Repeated dreams or visions have significant meaning. Hildegarde of Bingen had visions with clarity from God, but dreams were another story. She had terrifying dreams and was not sure what to make of them. She waited until they persisted, then she went to her spiritual director for counsel. She models for us to wait and see if the dreams repeat themselves, then go to a spiritual director for further insight and direction.
• Similar themes repeated in dreams or vision have special significance. Sometimes God repeats a dream or vision for emphasis to:
  • give greater assurance or certainty, especially when the dream is hard to believe, as with Joseph’s two dreams with the same theme.
  • certify the determination and soon action of God, as Joseph explained regarding Pharaoh’s dreams.
  • affirm that God has confirmed it, determined it, and will bring it about (Gen 41:25, 32).
  • confirm or establish by two or three witnesses. Sometimes we will receive more than one dream, vision, or mental image, or more than one person will receive similar, but related, insights. These multiple images will confirm their reality and reinforce their importance to the one who is receiving prayer.

PR

Excerpted and adapted from the forthcoming second volume of Is It of God? Applying Principles of Discernment, by Dr. Paul L. King. Used by permission.

Further Reading:

Read “Basic Biblical Principles of Discernment,” an excerpt from Paul L. King, Is It Of God? A Biblical Guidebook For Spiritual Discernment Volume 1 (Newberry, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2019).

Notes

[i] This is my expanded literal translation from Hebrew. The NASB reads: “For the idols have spoken vanity and the diviners have seen [chazaha vision, revelation, prophecy] a lie and have told [dabar—used of a revelatory word] false dreams.”

[ii] Editor’s note: For more about Paul King’s helpful categories of Green Light, Yellow Light, and Red Light, see “Basic Biblical Principles of Discernment,” which is an excerpt from his book Is It Of God? A Biblical Guidebook For Spiritual Discernment Volume 1 (Newberry, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2019).

Join Antipas Harris for a live conversation about faith, Marxism, and Black Lives Matter.

Update: Follow the link below for watch the dialogue.

I would like to invite you to join me TONIGHT for an intellectually and spiritually invigorating Live Streaming conversation with highly acclaimed sociologist and practical theologian Bryan Froehle, Ph.D.

In light of the current social unrest, we will be having a dialogue concerning the Church, social structures, and social justice.

Simply click on the link below or join me on my public Facebook page TONIGHT, Tuesday, August 25, 2020, at 9 pm EDT/ 8 pm CDT/ 6 pm PDT. 

I hope to see your comments tonight on either YouTube or on my public Facebook page @drantipas. Be sure to “like” and “share” the live conversation on your social media outlets.

Thank you in advance for your participation!

Sincerely,

Dr. Antipas