This call to reform by Loren Sandford was originally published on December 31, 2010.

I find myself beyond appalled and deeply concerned about a trend I have seen developing in the body of Christ for several years now. I believe this trend is propelling us toward a crisis in the charismatic Christian world that may well derail and destroy revival before it can take firm root.

It seems that in the quest to become more and more supernatural many have increasingly wandered away from the plumbline of solid Christian doctrine and responsible accurate interpretation of the Scriptures. The resultant weirdness flowing from key leaders in various places is leading many followers into what can only be called heresy.

Some prominent teachers in the renewal movement now espouse “open theism” which posits that God does not know the future, the end from the beginning. It then builds on that premise to diminish the revelation of the omniscience and absolute power of our God that Scripture so clearly articulates. Another teaching gaining ground among us is the idea that once we have come to Jesus we need never repent again because we are no longer sinners. What about Paul’s statement concerning sinners, for instance, among whom he identified himself in present tense as “foremost of all” (I Timothy 1:15)? I think some people need to do a thorough study of New Testament exhortations to repent.

The problem stretches from the heretical to the silly. I recently returned from a ministry trip to New Zealand where one prominent leader has been teaching that we can unleash our spirituality by taking monoatomic gold pills. Why? Because Adam was made of monoatomic gold! What!? Another teacher here in the U.S. teaches that God didn’t part the Red Sea; Moses did! Where is our discernment? Recently I’ve heard it taught that it would be OK to pierce the ear in the lobe, but not at the top because the top is the ear gate and you might hinder your ability to hear God. Where is there any real foundation for this in God’s Word?

I am aware of one Christian leader who has devised a method of Christian divination, claiming that in doing so he has redeemed something for Christian use that the enemy stole. What happened to the biblical injunction against engaging in that kind of activity and the penalties for doing it?

I’m just scratching the surface here with a few representative examples. Where is the justification for any of this when held up to the light of solid exegesis of God’s Word? And if you don’t know what exegesis is, take some time to look it up and learn to understand how to read the Bible accurately for what it actually says. It’s time for us to stop interpreting the Bible through the filter of our personal revelations and personal experiences and learn to interpret our personal revelations and personal experiences by the Bible.

Ajith Fernando, The Call to Joy and Pain: Embracing Suffering in Your Ministry (Wheaton: Crossway, 2007), 192 pages, ISBN 9781581348880.

The Call to Joy and Pain by Ajith Fernando is a provocative analysis of the issue of pain and suffering. While he does not treat the cosmic problem of the reason for suffering in the world, he does consider at some length the concurrently difficult problem of suffering for the believer. He rejects the pervasive notion that Christians should not suffer; that indeed something is wrong when they do. In contrast, he strongly advocates that “something is seriously wrong not when Christians suffer but when they do not have the joy of the Lord” (p. 10). His main theme is just that—both suffering and joy are essential to the Christian life (p. 15).

Fernando interweaves exegesis of the New Testament texts with personal experiences and anecdotal situations, thus creating a strong position. This little book is laid out in four main sections, entitled: (1) “Suffering and Joy are Basic to Christianity”; (2) “Suffering Brings Us Nearer to Christ;” (3) “Our Suffering Helps the Church;” and (4) “Servants of the Church.” Each of these is further broken down into subsections, which provide ideal elements for devotional or meditational study. This is not to imply that Fernando’s work lacks scholarly analysis or contribution to this field. Indeed, his exegesis is noteworthy for scholars and pastors alike. This fine little book goes beyond platitudes or ‘bon mots’ and tackles with a solid hermeneutic the problem of joy in the face of pain and suffering. Ajith Fernando’s viewpoint is largely based on a theology, anthropology, and even soteriology, derived from the Pauline tradition, without yielding to the temptation to proof text. Fernando’s thesis is aptly condensed into a thought he expressed early in the book, “So, according to the Bible, joy and pain can coexist. Christians don’t talk about suffering unless they also talk about the joy of suffering. It is the joy that makes the cross worthwhile, for it gives us the strength to bear it” (p. 19; cf., Neh. 8:10).

Fernando calls God’s people to put into practice a well-rounded and comforting evangelism.

The author explores the three things he sees as being needed to experience joy in the midst of pain: lament, consideration of our trials to be joyful, and surrender. Of these, the one we find most poignant is the last. Fernando writes, “If we cling to anything in life, even a good thing, that thing will surely take away our joys” (p. 43). This harkens back to the message of many, if not almost all, spiritual masters, not the least of which is St. Ignatius in his Spiritual Exercises (cf., SE, 23)¹. We all know these things on something of a cloudy level, but Fernando brings home the point cogently and convincingly. Incidentally, although Fernando’s scope is primarily the Pauline tradition, his thesis is also supported by the Petrine tradition (cf., 1 Peter).

Reviewed by Thomas Doyle and Rebecca Skaggs

¹ “Therefore, we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things, as far as we are allowed free choice and are not under any prohibition.”

About the Authors

Thomas Doyle, M.Div., did his studies in theology at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. He is a long-standing participant in the Charismatic Renewal of the Catholic and Episcopal Churches. He is presently Director of The Metanoia Ministry, an evangelically-based counseling ministry in the San Francisco Bay area.

Kevin Williams investigates the significance of the ram’s horn trumpet.

In this edition of Messianic Foundations, we’re going to take a look at the ram’s horn trumpet called the shofar in Hebrew. It has played an important role throughout Scripture, and will play a crucial role in the days that lie ahead as we wait for the return of the Messiah. We are going to look at some of the different ways the shofar was used, what symbolic representations it took on as Jewish theology was molded, and how all of these things might apply to us today. We’re going to cover:

• The Akedah (The Binding of Isaac)
• The Call to Repentance
• The Call to Assemble
• The Last Trumpet

Introduction

Messianic Foundations
Artwork by Steve Grier © 1997 RBC Ministries. Used by permission.

Over the last decade there has been a growing trend in churches to incorporate the shofar or ram’s horn into praise and worship. This uniquely stylized trumpet has become one of the few symbols in traditional Judaism which the church has felt comfortable adopting, and rightfully so. It has a meaningful position in our biblical heritage dating all the way back to Abraham, and plays a crucial role in prophetic events as believers in Messiah listen for the “last trump.”[1]

There are two basic types of shofars. The oldest, and still widely accepted type among much of the Orthodoxy (Chassidim), is short with one curve in it. The timbre is usually a “tenor” sound. The shofar gaining wider popularity is the more recent, long, gently curving and twisting Yemenite shofar. These produce a lush baritone sound that carries further and seems to be more desirable. The tone is produced in the same way a person blows a trumpet, by pressing the lips tightly together and making an “elephant” noise into the narrow opening. With a little practice, almost anyone can produce a sound. Some people can produce two or three notes, and one Israeli believer I know can play two at the same time!

The pictures, at least during the Temple period, are vivid. Imagine if you will, the walls of the Temple surrounding the outer most gates, lined shoulder to shoulder by levitical priests. Each has in his hand a shofar. The sun is sinking low in the western sky, casting the Holy City, Jerusalem, in a blazing golden hue against her sandstone buildings. For miles around the sacred mount, the gold topped Temple looks like fire. Your nose twitches with the fresh scent of the ketoret the holy incense now being burned on the altar of incense. “Soon,” you say to yourself, “Very soon now.”

You cannot see it, but you know that somewhere in the middle of that column of smoke rising into the heavens, is the presence of the Almighty, the God of Israel. And where the Shekinah glory rests, is the Ark of the Covenant also known as the Tree of Life. Images of Moses at the burning bush spring to mind. Just as the tree would burn yet was not consumed, so it was now in Israel. The Tree of Life was burning with God’s holy presence, yet was not consumed. Rather the truth of the God of the Hebrews was spreading throughout the pagan world as gentile “God-fearers” were joining synagogues in ever-increasing numbers.

The sun sets and a quiet expectation rests on the Promised Land. The column of smoke has now become a pillar of fire, and the Temple no longer reflects the sun’s brilliance, but has become its emanating source as the external glory has become internal a foretaste of the coming One who whose light would be seen by all, and then radiate within the living temple.[2]