The Sea of Galilee, Summer 2011
Image: Wikimedia Commons

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

In the old sphere of sense and sight, waves and water, it was impossible to walk on the sea; in Jesus’ ethereal realm where earth’s influence of gravitational pull and nature’s energy were restrained, it was not impossible. Jesus said, “Come!” Peter obeyed and for a very brief moment—for the first time ever—approached Jesus as weightlessly as would a vapor. Gravity no longer touched him, the powers of nature were held back, and Peter, fully conscious and alive, was transported into the dimension of the Spirit. Though visible in the body he was none-the-less out of the body. The instant his feet touched the water Peter stood as securely on the sea as he had ever stood upon a rock. That was the most awesome step conceivable—but he did it. Wonderfully, he had opportunity to remain in that state, walking on water, provided he did not allow the realm of nature to re-possess him. Unfortunately, in a flash, both realms came visibly together, Peter was snatched back into the physical domain and immediately sank.

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

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

Two conditions are expressed in the hymn: The Church’s spiritual drought and the cry, “Lord, revive us!” Thankfully, the prayer for revival is being answered. More than 500,000,000 Christians worldwide now believe in and are experiencing miraculous gifts of the Spirit. That is one-fourth of the world’s total Christian population. Even so, most of the traditional Church, as in the case of Scotland, refuses to accept miraculous manifestations and continues its death-march. The other part of the Church is returning to the spiritual climate of the first century and the “restoration of all things.” Acts 3:21. But much more than a restoration to spiritual gifts is taking place. The present call of the Holy Spirit is for Christians to go far beyond “gifts” and to enter into miraculous living. Believers in the early centuries not only exercised powerful works of the Spirit but experienced visitations of angels, were “caught up into the heavenlies,” were miraculously transported from place to place, and received the Spirit’s fullest manifestations. These same manifestations occurred in Indonesia during the ministry of Mel Tori some 40 years ago and are now appearing on the Church’s horizon. Let me illustrate from Scripture believers whose life-in-the-Spirit went beyond gifts:

1. Angelic appearances: John 1:49-51. Nathanael answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

2. Daylight visions: Acts 10:1-4. There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord?”

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

3. Out-of-body experiences: 2 Corinthians 12:1-5. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities.”

My ministry began in 1948 with a daytime vision in which I saw myself preaching. Until that moment I had not the slightest hint that a pastoral life lay before me. That was not my choice. But the vision was so powerful, so totally overwhelming, that at the end of weeks of fighting it, I finally surrendered to the will of God. The vision was followed by another, again in the daytime, in which God assured me He had answers for all my fearful questions. Now, more than seven decades later, those two visions remain the greatest, most unchallengeable motivation in my commitment to Him. This year I will be 94 years old and say without hesitation I expect to receive more anointing and greater revelation through meetings with the Lord that are “out of my boat and into His realm.” I want that! With God’s grace permitting, I will! Come go with me!

PR

Adapted from Charles Carrin Ministries monthly newsletter, Gentle Conquest (January 2020).  www.CharlesCarrin.com Used with permission.

Catholics and Protestants Together in Charismatic Renewal?

Perhaps nothing makes more of a laughingstock out of global Church unity in Spirit and worship than the contentious issue of Marian devotion. Some Catholics truly worship Mary as if she were the fourth person of the Trinity, in spite of official Catholic theology to the contrary. Marian devotion had a role in undermining the Catholic charismatic renewal in the 1980s. Protestants, on the other hand, have a difficult time in saying what the Bible says about Mary, that she is “blessed among women.” Here is a controversial blog on the issue from an Anglican priest and former Roman Catholic.

www.pentecostaltheology.com/marian-devotion-and-the-coming-second-wave-of-the-catholic-charismatic-renewal/

Quotes from the article selected by the Editor:

For some reason I was not comfortable about Marian devotion as a boy. … My childhood as a Catholic was lived under the cloud of the ominous “Fatima prophecies” that came from apparitions that were supposedly from Mary at Fatima, Portugal in 1917.

In fact, several prominent Catholic theologians have consistently warned of the dangers of excessive Marian devotion to the revivals of the Holy Spirit. The Jesuit priest and historian of the Catholic Charismatic renewal, Fr. Peter Hocken, warned that excessive Marian devotion is a danger to authentic revival and true reverence of Mary.

On the level of formal theology and ecumenical dialogue, much progress has been made in Catholic-Protestant communications about Mary and the honor due her. Formal Catholic theology has backed off declaring Mary as the “mediatrix” of all graces. …

My own opinion is that there is no way to dialogue into a “midpoint” that all will agree upon. Catholics will venerate Mary to a degree that Protestants feel uncomfortable with, and Catholics will not be content with the degree that Protestants consider and honor Mary.

… the Holy Spirit constantly surprises when a new revival begins, and this may be true of Marian devotion in the future. The Pentecostals of the 1960s were astounded when the Holy Spirit enlivened the mainline denomination into what became the Charismatic Renewal. They thought the mainline churches were too far gone into apostasy to be renewed. The Pentecostals were further astounded when the Catholics began experiencing Holy Spirit revival in 1967. They were sure the Catholic Church was the Biblically prophesied “whore of Babylon” and could not be redeemed from its idolatry. They were wrong about that, too. One can only wonder what the Spirit will do in the coming revival.

Thomas Ball Barratt in 1878 (age 16).

An expert in European Pentecostal history, Geir Lie, introduces readers to his in-depth look at Pentecostal pioneer T. B. Barratt and the early emphasis of Pentecostals that has often been forgotten.

The history of Thomas Ball Barratt (1862-1940) and his role in the origins of not only the Pentecostal movement in Norway, but in most countries within Western Europe, is fairly well known among Pentecostal scholars. The purpose of this article is partly to challenge a previous claim that Norwegian Pentecostalism in its initial stage did not reflect the missionary tongues concept. What is implied by that claim is that speaking in tongues was not the most characteristic feature of the early Pentecostal movement, contrary to what many tend to believe. In fact, tongues speech was generally understood to be secondary to and arising out of what could be characterized as a millenarian belief system.

In addition to strongly suggesting that the missionary tongues concept was also taught by Barratt during the first stage of his Pentecostal experience, this article will challenge the identification of the millennial thesis to have originated with Robert Mapes Anderson in his first edition of Vision of the Disinherited in 1979. This is a serious challenge since Anderson’s thesis was considered groundbreaking among American academicians. This same claim was set forth as early as 1928 in a Norwegian book entitled Dommedagsventing by author Thorstein Gunnarson.  As the originator of Anderson’s millenarian thesis, Gunnarson should be duly credited.

Read the full article:

Geir Lie, “The Origin of T.B. Barratt’s Concept of ‘Missionary Tongues” Cyberjournal for Pentecostal-Charismatic Research #26 (November 2018).

Rutkowski subtitled his book “The Journey to Identity, Passion and Purpose.” It has eight chapters that are largely filled with pleasant anecdotal materials. We learn that Todd, a Canadian, was quite a hockey player in his younger days and had to choose service to the King of Kings over a possibly very rewarding career in professional hockey.

We learn, too, of Todd’s father’s struggles, and how Todd dealt with what he wished was different. Todd reviews many things he has learned and experienced in his years with YWAM and with the Vineyard Association of Churches. I found it well written and encouraging.

Reviewed by H. Murray Hohns

Editor’s note: This brief review was originally published in 2006 on the Pneuma Foundation website, the parent organization of PneumaReview.com.

Amos Yong explores the impact of Pentecostalism on Christianity. This lecture was given on February 12, 2015 as part of the annual Murray W. Downey Lectureship at Ambrose University. This is Part 3 of the series. Watch Introductions and Part 1, Part 2.

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Further reading: Read Jenny-Lyn Harrison’s summary and reflection of Amos Yong’s 2015 Downey Lectureship.

Amos Yong explores the impact of Pentecostalism on Christianity. This lecture was given on February 12, 2015 as part of the annual Murray W. Downey Lectureship at Ambrose University. This is Part 2 of the series. Watch Introductions and Part 1 and Part 3 of this series.

Please advance the timer to 2:05 when the introduction by Bernie van de Walle begins.

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Further reading: Read Jenny-Lyn Harrison’s summary and reflection of Amos Yong’s 2015 Downey Lectureship.

Amos Yong explores the impact of Pentecostalism on Christianity. This lecture was given on February 11, 2015 as part of the annual Murray W. Downey Lectureship at Ambrose University.

Please advance the timer to 25:15 when the introductions begin.

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The Coming Global Christianity: Watch Part 2 and Part 3 of this series.

Further reading: Read Jenny-Lyn Harrison’s summary and reflection of Amos Yong’s 2015 Downey Lectureship.

On February 11^th and 12^th 2015, Amos Yong delivered a two-part series of lectures at Ambrose University for the annual Murray W. Downey Lectureship. Ambrose University is a Christian institution of higher education in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, composed of a denominationally diverse community seeking to represent Christ in their respective fields. Yong is currently Professor of Theology and Mission and Director for Missiological Research at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is a prolific author who has written, edited, and contributed to scores of publications. At this lectureship, Yong explored the impact of Pentecostalism on Christianity in his lectures titled, “The Coming Global Christianity: Pietistic-Pentecostal Challenges and Opportunities.”

Murray W. Downey was a founding member of the faculty of the Canadian Bible College in 1941 and taught there for 31 years. An Academic Dean for six years, he was also Director of Christian Service for 30 years. In 1982, the Canadian Theological Seminary along with the Canadian Bible College established the Murray W. Downey Chair of Evangelism. The Downey Endowment and Scholarship Fund and Lectureship Series honours Mr. Downey’s service, passion, and commitment, and assists future M.Div. students.
From the Ambrose University page introducing the 2015 Downey Lectures.

In his first lecture, Yong introduced the issues at hand by defining his terms and then presented the challenges facing Pietistic-Pentecostalism. This stream of Christianity is “coming” in the sense that it is a present reality that has not yet arrived in its fullness, as seen in its continual growth. It is “global” in that it is affecting communities all over the world. Yong noted that some prefer the term “World Christianity” rather than “Global Christianity” because the former emphasizes not only the expanse of Christianity around the world (as the latter does) but also the diversity seen among the different Christianities. Pietistic-Pentecostalism is one of these expressions. While Pietism and Pentecostalism are not identical, they are related in many ways. In fact, a Pietistic form of Pentecostalism has emerged. The merging of strands from these two traditions into one unique expression of Christianity can be traced to the Azusa Street Revival in the twentieth century, where many of those involved in this Pentecostal movement came from Pietistic backgrounds. Thus, while not the same thing, these two traditions are organically interrelated and may be regarded as spiritual and historical cousins, perhaps even siblings.

After defining his terms, Yong identified two characteristics of Pietistic-Pentecostalism: first, its place within evangelicalism (in that it is committed to a born again experience, Christ-centered spirituality, a focus on the cross, and a commitment to evangelism a la David Bebbington’s definition) and, second, its emphasis on orthopathos (right feeling) and orthopraxis (right behavior). While it does not neglect orthodoxy (right thinking), it defines it differently—primarily in its necessary relation to both orthopathos and orthpraxis—rather than primarily in its relation to creeds and confessions. In order to illustrate this understanding of orthodoxy, orthopraxis, and orthopathos, Yong explained what a conversation between Pietistic-Pentecostals looks like. He said it is only after the two parties agree that they “love Jesus” that they would get into a discussion of other theological issues. None of the emerging theological issues, however, would ever be seen as being as important as the already established fact that they both love Jesus. While “loving Jesus” may need to be defined, this defining must not take precedence over the fact that love must be displayed in one’s actions. In fact, Yong proposed, this is exactly what theology is—a reflection on how one has experienced the risen Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not, primarily, abstract hypothesizing.

Sexual abuse is a serious and uncomfortable subject that church leaders cannot afford to ignore. To introduce pastors and Christian leaders to one resource available to them, The Pneuma Review will be printing chapters from The Long Journey Home: Understanding and Ministering to the Sexually Abused, edited by Andrew J. Schmutzer. Part 2 of Andrew J. Schmutzer’s chapter, “A Theology of Sexuality and its Abuse: Creation, Evil, and the Relational Ecosystem” continues in the Fall 2013 issue, followed by more questions and answers about the chapter.

The Fall 2013 issue will include excerpts from Craig S. Keener’s two volume Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts.

Some reviews to look for in the Fall 2013 issue:
Paul J. Palma reviews Who is the Holy Spirit? A Walk with the Apostles (Paraclete Press, 2011), by Pentecostal scholar Amos Yong.
Stephen M. Vantassel reviews A Faith Embracing All Creatures: Addressing Commonly Asked Questions about Christian Care for Animals (Cascade Books, 2012), edited by Tripp York and Andy Alexis-Baker.

Some reviews to look for in the Fall 2012 issue:

Professor Malcolm Brubaker reviews Gary Tyra, The Holy Spirit in Mission: Prophetic Speech and Action in Christian Witness (InterVarsity Press, 2011).

The collection of essays of Afro-Pentecostalism: Black Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in History and Culture (New York University Press, 2011), edited by Amos Yong and Estrelda Alexander, are reviewed by Wolfgang Vondey.