The byline of this blog by Karl Vaters reads, “Long-term pastorates are almost always good for the church and the pastor. But when these things happen, it’s time to go.”

Eddie Hyatt, “Learning to ‘Think Critically’ Without Quenching the Spirit” Global Christian Awakening (December 31, 2016)

PneumaReview.com writer Eddie Hyatt talks about gifts and manifestations of the Spirit, personal prophecy, and a warning about how being careless about how we approach these things can create life-arresting problems. “When it comes to the supernatural, we should have an attitude of being open without being naïve and being critical without being judgmental. This will allow us to enjoy the fullness of God’s blessings and at the same time be protected from the many deceiving spirits at work in the world today.”

Karl Vaters, “5 Problems With Top-Down Vision-Casting – And a New Testament Alternative: Acts 2 does not give us a picture of Peter hearing from God in private, then coming to the disciples with the vision” Pivot (December 19, 2016).

In this blog from Karl Vaters, hosted by ChristianityTodayOnline, we are asked, “Have we been doing vision-casting wrong?”

George Thomas, “Radical Revival Falls on China’s State-Controlled Churches” CBN News (January 5, 2017).

Pastor John Lathrop invites us to watch this encouraging testimony and read this introductory article about what God is doing, “an unprecedented Christian revival happening in parts of China. What is unique about this story is how God is moving among communist-controlled government churches.”

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, “The Favorite Bible Verses of 88 Nations” Christianity Today (January 10, 2017).

PneumaReview.com editor Raul Mock says: “In this short article and the Country-Verse table that follows you will find interesting, current, relevant, and biblically-centered ideas for sermon starters and anecdotes.”

Roger E. Olson, “Who Were the First Protestants? Reflections on the ‘500th Anniversary’” Patheos (January 16, 2017).

Pastor Wes Shortridge presents a short history of the astounding revival that occurred on both sides of the American Civil War and how it impacted the nation for decades.

Introduction

America in 1861 presents a painful and complex chapter in history. God, however, had a plan for the American people, and God remained present during the painful chapter. God appears most in this period in the soldiers fighting the Civil War. Along the banks of the Rappahannock River in 1863, both armies faced one another in battle; however, both armies also faced a revival of religion. The paradox of revival in two armies facing one another presents an example of God’s ability to use revival to accomplish His purposes in spite of human conflict.

“Prayer in ‘Stonewall’ Jackson’s Camp” (1866).
Drawn by F. Kramer, Engraved by J. C. Buttre.

The Circumstances of the Revival

Pre 1861 America While many modern interpreters of the American situation before the Civil War view the war as a simple moral war in which one party supported slavery and the other party arose as a benevolent deliverer of an oppressed people, the actual situation in America proved much more complex. Americans, from both North and South, had sanctioned or at least ignored slavery for nearly a century. White men ruled the country, and obvious examples of misogyny and racism rarely arose as issues in a land that voiced the values of liberty and equality. The powerful elites from both North and South worked to protect the prominent position of the light-skinned and masculine. The first and second Great Awakenings had revived religion in America, but paternalistic racism remained unaddressed. Religion focused mostly on benevolence within the paternalistic system rather than valuing or empowering all humans.

Slavery in America found support in the hermeneutical principles of American religion in both the North and the South. Mark A. Noll describes the unique hermeneutic of America:

Americans held to a hermeneutic that was distinctly American. The reason they held it so implicitly was precisely that this hermeneutic—compounded of a distinctly Reformed approach to the scope of biblical authority (“every direction contained in its pages as applicable at all times to all men”) and a distinctly American intuition that privileged commonsense readings of scriptural texts (“a literal interpretation of the Bible”)—had functioned as the vehicle through which the Bible was unleashed in the creation of the American civilization.[1]

It is with thanks to Scott Camp for the chance to review his book, A Primer on Power: Discovering the Dynamic Ministry of the Holy Spirit (Franklin Publishing, 2016). Scott Camp is a full-time traveling evangelist who also teaches Evangelism at the SUM Bible College and Seminary in Oakland, California. Scott is in the midst of finishing up his Doctor of Ministry (DMin) from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, Missouri. He has extensive pastoral ministry, evangelistic, and leadership experience.

Camp wrote this book, “as a ‘primer’ in the hopes it will create within the hearts of all who read it a hunger for a deeper experience with the Holy Spirit” (25). He also shares from his own personal experience with the Holy Spirit. He writes: “I am unapologetically Charismatic. I believe in an experience of empowerment subsequent to regeneration which has commonly been referred to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit” (25). This leads into his purpose for writing, “The purpose of this book is to introduce this subject in the hopes that my readers may enter into this fullness of the life of the Spirit and His ministry gifts” (25). Camp believes the church in the West is in desperate need of revival. He unashamedly contends that this revival comes only through a direct encounter with the power of the Holy Spirit and Christians experiencing the fullness of the Spirit in their lives (26).

A Primer on Power is a strong mix of anecdotal accounts and biblical-theological exegesis. Camp begins by showing how the church at large is lacking in its ability to function in the power of the Holy Spirit. 78% of Evangelical churches in the U.S. are plateaued and/or declining (31). The remaining 22% growth occurs through transfer membership. Very few new salvations occur on a regular basis. The church in America needs a revival! The key to that revival, argues Camp, lies in experiencing a dynamic power encounter with the person and work of the Holy Spirit. He challenges readers to actively experience the Spirit’s empowerment to dynamically engage others. He quips, “While Jesus has called us to be ‘fishers of men,’ we are content to be “keepers of the aquarium” (31).

Why does Camp want to see renewal in the church? The centerpiece and unwavering purpose for revival exists in effectively carrying out Christ’s mandate, the Great Commission. Prioritizing preaching the gospel to all creation and making disciples of all nations is imperative. Christians lack an ability to accomplish this mandate effectively apart from the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Camp asserts, “Jesus’ Great Commission mandate could not be carried out without the active ministry of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the Church Age, the Holy Spirit would take the will of King Jesus and communicate it to His Church, filling believers with faith and supernatural power to extend His reign upon the earth, ‘making disciples of all nations’” (47).

The essence of the book then centers on the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial physical evidence of “speaking and praying in tongues” for the purpose of mission. However, the book refrains from centering on tongues. The thrust of the Spirit’s baptism produces supernatural power to fulfill the Great Commission. Receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues serves, for Scott Camp, to “discover the dynamic ministry of the Holy Spirit.” Moreover, this experience allows one to know and experience God on a new level. It enacts strength along with an ability to share the gospel with others in a distinctly new way.

The Executive Director of Christians Care International, Don Horwitz, speaks with PneumaReview.com about anti-Semitism, the relationship between the Church and Judaism, and his own journey to help the vulnerable and abused in the former Soviet Union.

PneumaReview.com: Please tell us a little about yourself, your religious background, family, and your involvement with Christians Care International.

Don Horwitz: As the grandson of Russian Jewish immigrants who fled for their lives from Ukraine in 1917, I have always maintained a strong connection with my family’s heritage. Many of my family members were lost, or survived the concentration camps of the Holocaust. During repeated visits to Russia and Ukraine, I witnessed the horrific humanitarian crisis that was taking place in the former Soviet Union. People of all ages, including orphans and the elderly, were suffering from neglect and abuse, with no hope for a healthy future.

Don interacting with children at a Christians Care International’s special education center in Odessa, Ukraine.

After much thought and prayer, I decided to act by adopting my three daughters from an orphanage in Irkutsk, Russia in 1997. All three of my girls suffered from deep psychological scars resulting from years of severe abuse and maltreatment.

Here in the U.S., I was able to get help for my daughters, but I was deeply troubled about the thousands of children left behind, trapped in cold, heartless orphanages in the former Soviet Union.

I decided to create a charity in Moscow to help children aging out of orphanages acquire therapeutic services, independent living skills and job training so that could move forward with their lives. With a professional background in film, I also began producing a series of films and TV programs for Phil Hunter, the founder of Christians Care International, formerly known as 49:22TRUST, about the suffering of Jews in the former Soviet Union. This was my first exposure to the work of Christians Care International.

PneumaReview.com: How did you, as a Jewish man, come to lead a Christian ministry, Christians Care International?

Don Horwitz: A Christian man, Phil Hunter taught me more about Judaism than I had learned from my own family. Phil became a father figure in my life and I worked with him for several years making films before he became terminally ill. After Phil passed away, his family asked me to take his place in leading Christians Care International.

Before saying “yes,” my first reaction was, “How can a Jew run a Christian ministry?” After many hours of prayer, I realized that it would be a unique opportunity to strengthen the relationship between Christians and Jews, and that as a Jew, I would be able to open new doors for the ministry within Israel and the Jewish communities the organization serves.

The film, The Insanity of God, is based on the book with the same title; it tells the story of Nik and Ruth Ripken’s involvement in missions. Ripken, by the way, is not their real name, it is a pseudonym. The film is narrated by the Ripkens and contains reenactments of some of the accounts from the book.

In the beginning of the film the Ripkens tell the story of how they got involved in missions. Ruth knew at a very early age that she was called to missions, Nik, her husband, came to this realization later in life. He was convinced by the words of Jesus in the Great Commission passage in Matthew 28 that he too should be involved in missions. The Ripkens began their ministry in pastoral work. After a missionary ministered in one of the churches that they pastored they felt that they needed to make their move and get onto the mission field. They initially went to Malawi and loved it, but due to recurring bouts with malaria they had to leave the country. They then moved to South Africa. After this they were told that there were a couple of other African countries that they could consider: the Sudan or Somalia. Their leadership felt that they were to go to Somalia.

Nik said that when he went to Somalia he felt like he had flown into hell. The needs there were overwhelming. By his third night in the country he wanted to leave, however, he did not. He stayed and tried to help in whatever ways he could, mostly through relief work. The seeming lack of progress, the execution of four Somali Christians whom he had shared communion with, and a family tragedy eventually resulted in the Ripkens returning to the United States. They were broken by their experience. In the film Nik asks the question “What do you do when everything seem to be crucifixion and no resurrection?”

Their experience was a difficult one, but it led them on a search. They wanted to find out how Christians could grow and thrive in difficult places, in lands where believers are persecuted. Nik journeyed to a number of nations where Christians suffered persecution to try to find out how they were able to bear up under it and thrive. He went to learn and conducted many hours of interviews with believers in these nations. This is the resurrection part of the story.

The film features stories from three different nations: Russia, China, and an unidentified country in Central Asia. It is virtually impossible not to be moved by these stories. The account from Russia focuses on a Christian man who was arrested and imprisoned for seventeen years for his faith. How he kept his faith during this time and the impact that he had on his fellow prisoners is truly an amazing story. The segment about China gives attention to the response of the Chinese Christians when they heard about the persecution of the believers in Somalia. And, the portion about Central Asia focuses on one man that Nik Ripen called “the toughest man I ever met.” I am purposely not providing a lot of details because I do not want to spoil the film should you decide to see it (which I hope you do). I believe that you will be impressed by the faith, dedication, obedience, and perseverance of these believers who have lived under persecution.

The Insanity of God does not gloss over the harsh realities that believers face in lands where Christianity is not welcomed. It asks the tough questions. The film is both challenging and inspiring. I have also read the book The Insanity of God and would recommend that as well, it contains more information than is included in the film. The book and the film are very important resources. I hope that they receive wide spread exposure. All Christians, particularly those interested in missions, should see this film. I highly recommend it. The Ripkens have done a great service to the Body of Christ in sharing their story and the stories of those they have interviewed.

Reviewed by John Lathrop

Companion website: http://www.insanityofgodmovie.com/

Anita Charles has a powerful story to tell about how God used a couple in Oregon to help rescue her from childhood poverty in India, through Compassion International, to become a Jesus-follower ministering around the world. Now, after nearly 50 years of life-changing ministry to millions of children, the government of India is forcing Compassion out of the country.

My journey with Compassion started when I was 9 years old. My parents had a rough marriage and had separated. My mother was left to raise me and my brother as a single parent in Chennai, a large city of 8 million people. It so happened that Compassion International had a project in the school I was going to. My 4th grade teacher knew how much my mother was struggling to raise 2 children on her own, struggling to pay the rent, struggling to pay school tuition, struggling to put food on the table and to make ends meet. So she recommended me for sponsorship with Compassion.

In India, as in many other countries, schools are not free and there is no system of good public school education. The house that we grew up in was about the size of a two car garage. There was one room that was our bedroom, living room and dining room. There were no taps in the house except for one hand pump. We sat on the floor to have our meals. We washed dishes, clothes and bathed in the same small space in the bathroom.

My mother said this so much it was drilled it into me, “You don’t have a father, we don’t have money, so if you don’t finish school you will have nothing!” So we knew that education was important if we wanted to survive.

How did being sponsored change my life? Being sponsored impacted my life in 2 distinct ways.

First, sponsorship provided an education that we could not afford on our own. I was sponsored from 4^th grade through 12^th grade by a couple named Glen and Linda who live in Portland, Oregon. During that time, my school tuition was paid for as well as my text books and school uniforms. They also gave me birthday gifts and Christmas gifts. Let me add that God gave me the awesome privilege to meet them when I came to live in the United States. Because I was sponsored I received good education that prepared me for the opportunities that lay ahead.

Secondly, God gave me Jesus who is the Lord of my life – the Hope of all Hopes! The school that I went to, because of my sponsorship, was a Christian school that nurtured my faith. We started every day with songs, prayer and reading Scripture. This school taught me to connect with God as my Father and this school was also the place that I first asked God to be the Lord of my life.

Additionally, being sponsored allowed me to see how God had seen my mother’s difficulty and answered her prayers.

My journey with Compassion has come full circle as my family now sponsors four children through Compassion, two of whom are from India. While it is a pleasure to receive letters from them, see their photographs and to write back to them, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having a meaningful relationship with the two children in India for about 10 years. I have visited them twice in India. My heart is saddened to think that their chances to stay in school and to receive a good education has been jeopardized by the changes made by Indian government. The government has moved to restrict charitable organizations, hindering them from redeeming vulnerable children from the cycle of poverty.

Compassion International has been working in India for 48 years and is now forced to close the doors of opportunity to about 145,000 young, vulnerable children. While we worship a sovereign God cares very much for those 145,000 children. To learn more about the situation please visit https://www.compassion.com/about/where/india.htm

For Further Reading:

Suhasini Haidar and Vijaita Singh, “Compassion International to shut down India operations,” The Hindu (February 3, 2017).

Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, “Compassion: Why We’re Leaving India, But Still Have Hope: ‘Frustrated’ CEO explains how shutdown of 589 centers serving 145,000 children will affect staff, sponsors, and churches,” Christianity Today (March 1, 2017).

Anita recorded this testimony about 5 years ago:

Anita Charles: Compassion Child Sponsorship from Navin Kharmai on Vimeo.

What does Spirit-filled education look like around the world? Brandon Paul, Director of Academic Affairs for FIRE School of Ministry, gives a brief sketch of the school and how they prepare men and women for ministry that makes a difference in the USA and beyond. Part of the Pentecostal Theological Education Around the World series from PneumaReview.com.

Introduction

FIRE School of Ministry is a post-secondary ministry school, located near Charlotte, North Carolina. Our primary focus is on equipping believers who want to serve the Lord in some ministry capacity. International missions work is a major emphasis, although many of our students are looking to remain in the United States and serve in pastoral ministry, worship, evangelism, etc. This interview has been completed by Brandon Paul, Director of Academic Affairs.

What are some of the greatest obstacles to Spirit-filled theological education in your nation? 

Obviously there are many obstacles to Christian education in general, but those specifically related to Pentecostal/Charismatic education would include:

• Many are hesitant to embrace prophecy, tongues, healing, etc., because of excesses, mistakes, and weaknesses they have seen in the Charismatic Movement at large (e.g. inaccurate prophecies, extreme prosperity gospel preaching).
• The Charismatic/Pentecostal movement is very fragmented.

What are the greatest doctrinal challenges that you face in your country? 

Many could be listed. Some of the more prominent ones would include:

• Divorce and remarriage
• Eschatology
• Homosexuality
• Postmodernism
• Prosperity and wealth
• Theodicy
• Women in Ministry/Leadership

What major themes do you stress as you train students for ministry? 

Some of our major themes include:

• Biblical studies
• Compassion for the lost and hurting
• Intimacy with God.
• Integrity and Christlikeness
• Passion for revival and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
• Valuing community, relationships, mentoring
• Walking in the power of the Spirit

What fruit have you seen in the lives of those who have prepared for ministry at your school?

We have scores of graduates serving internationally, working in areas such as church planting, orphanages, combating human trafficking, community development, and education.  We also have graduates serving in the United States in pastoral ministry, music ministry, traveling evangelism, etc. Some go on to further education elsewhere.

From the FIRE School of Ministry website:

Does your heart burn to make a difference in this generation?

If you are a radically committed follower of Jesus who wants to be equipped to fulfill your destiny in God…

… check out FIRE School of Ministry!

FIRE School of Ministry is a leadership training institute, birthed out of the fires of revival, which is called to equip authentic and devoted disciples of Jesus who have a burning desire to love, serve God and impact their world. Students are grounded in the Word of God, bathed in intimacy with Jesus, stretched in faith, immersed in the Spirit, and practically equipped for life and ministry.

Modern culture is in a serious crisis, the church at large is greatly compromised, and the needs of the world continue to be staggering. There is a critical need today for fully-equipped, solidly-grounded, specially-trained, radically-committed leaders to arise and FSM is the ideal place to be trained.

As a Christian youth, the first book I read from cover-to-cover was David Wilkerson’s The Cross and the Switchblade. For my senior paper in college, I wrote about “The Wisdom of the Cross in 1 Corinthians 1:18.” Throughout my life, the theme of the cross of Jesus has appeared in my life and academic studies. My preaching and pastoral ministry became guided by the overarching theme of the cross of Jesus. I believe without the cross, the New Testament contains implausible words with little power. In my research as a pastor-scholar, I have recognized that the central motif of Paul’s message centers on the cross of Christ crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). In his first letter to the Corinthians, the apostle commenced the correspondence with “the message about the cross” and “power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18, NRSV). This article will consider the power of the cross in a pastor’s ministry with regard to healing. My thesis underscored the need for a robust theology of the cross with the issue of healing. The key thought of this paper is not a new idea for healing is as old as the New Testament. Both the theology and practicality of the cross in healing will be investigated. Salvation overcomes sin through the power of the cross. The apostle’s eschatological doctrine of the cross contains a theology of salvation; subsequently, the preaching of the cross sets the release of the power of God for healing in the church. Therefore, the cross of Christ reveals God’s eternal plan for all people, and that power undergirds his sovereign purposes. As a pastor of a congregation, I believe a firm understanding of the cross remains essential for ministry, especially in the area of healing.

Image: Dennis Ottink

Relationship between the cross and healing

This article is on the after-life, and how Evangelical theology has limited the range of scriptures in which the after-life may be discussed and understood. This was compounded by the mis-translation in the King James Bible of “sheol” and “hades” into “Hell.” This article highlights a group of Victorian Anglican scholars, headed by F. W. Farrar, who saw in the scriptures and in the writings of the Early Church, that there was more mercy for the unbeliever than popularly preached. One does not have to embrace Universalism to believe that everyone who does not make an altar call goes to hell. Millennials are ready for this.

Link: AnglicalPentecostal.blogspot.com/2017/02/more-mercy.html

Image: Roxanne Desgagnés

Christian Origins and the Ancient Economy is a fascinating study of the socioeconomic environment during the “Second Temple Period” which included the time Jesus lived among us. Professor David Fiensy’s introduction, written in pure geek, gives a false impression of how fascinating and enjoyable his work becomes once readers reach chapter one. Chapter 9, “Poverty and Wealth in the Jerusalem Church,” is worth the price of the book. Written in readable, Reader’s Digest English, it is an exposition on Acts 4:32-34, the quintessential vision of God for His church.

Fiensy begins by introducing the various social strata in Galilee. Jesus, to begin with, was a carpenter, an artisan, in low social standing among both Greeks and Romans, but extolled by the rabbis. Jesus hobnobbed with the elites, however, who were socially above Him: Johanna and her husband Chuza (an official of Herod Antipas), Jarius, Zacchaeus, Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea to name a few. Perhaps, some of the elites employed Him, as a carpenter. Fiensy argues that it was Jesus, the artisan, that lead a mass movement of peasants—though the professor can only surmise how this, historically speaking, came about. As an artisan, he would have interpreted life differently than the average peasant. Additionally, Jesus, would have practiced his craft in an urban setting. This would place Jesus, culturally, worlds removed from that of a farmer. Rural populations maintained their native languages and customs. Urbanites spoke Greek and were “in touch …with the great institutions and ideas of Greco-Roman society.”

Fiensy then asks, “Was debt widespread in Jesus’s time?” That is to ask: was at least 30% of peasantry facing foreclosure on their farmlands and homes? A peasant was a subsistence farmer who was trying to grow enough to feed his family. Peasant farmers made up the greater part of a Galilean subsistence economy. They worked between 1 and 15 acres of land to feed their families on 13 to 25 bushels of wheat—per 6 acres sowed each year. The book is full of such fun facts that bring the parables of Jesus to life and provide needed insight into the New Testament narrative.

David A. Fiensy

Through the book, Professor Fiensy debates the use of a socio-economic model and its archeological accuracy in explaining a Galilean economy. Professor Fiensy uses tables, scriptures, social models, archeological finds as well as other historical data to argue both sides of this intriguing question about private debt. For example, Josephus tells a relevant story of a mob of desperate peasants setting fire to the archives in Judea to burn the record of their debts. Was this the economic backdrop to Jesus’s ministry? There are many unanswered socio-economic questions debated by archeologists and sociologists. Prof. Fiensy welcomes us into this forum as he discusses such subjects as economic crises, the introduction of currency, property, and taxes.

The economy of Lower Galilee, Fiensy’s first concern, was in the early stages of changing from a subsistence economy that bonded peasants together in a common struggle for survival into a market economy (i.e. cash crops to increase wealth) where everything had a price and coinage was, more and more, the medium of exchange. (Fiensy uses the term: commercialized.) Consequently, old associations, family, neighbors, and religious life, were becoming of lesser value. It was in this context Jesus spoke out against riches in Mark 10:25.