PneumaReview.com speaks with Christian historian and renewalist, Frank Billman, about John Wesley, the Methodist Church, and the supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit today.

PneumaReview.com: You have written a book called The Supernatural Thread in Methodism. Please tell our readers a little bit about the book.

Frank H. Billman, The Supernatural Thread in Methodism: Signs and Wonders Among Methodists Then and Now (Creation House, 2013).

Frank Billman: I have always had an interest in history, especially church history. And when I took the Methodist history course required for United Methodist ordination at a United Methodist seminary, I really enjoyed the course. The course was taught by the author of the textbook we used, a well-known Methodist historian. However, sometime after seminary graduation I began to read some other books and articles that highlighted supernatural elements of our Methodist history that I never learned about in seminary—like John Wesley praying for healing and casting out demons, and experiencing angelic encounters, and even raising a man from the dead. Wesley taught that all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Bible (including speaking in tongues) are valid for today. Methodists rested in the Spirit, and experienced trances and visions and dreams. The power of God would show up in Methodist preaching services, love feasts, communion services, camp meetings, even annual conference sessions. This supernatural history is not only the heritage of United Methodists, but all the denominations today that trace their history back to John Wesley and the Methodists.

So as I would share in various settings about what I found in our history I was encouraged to gather my findings together in a book. It was published by Creation House Press, a publishing arm of Charisma Magazine. Charisma Media shut down that part of their publishing business so the book has gone out of print. (Aldersgate Renewal Ministries still has some copies and I have some.) I am in the process of revising and updating the book with some additional chapters and I need to connect with a new publisher.

PneumaReview.com: How did you personally come into the charismatic experience of the Spirit?

Frank Billman: I grew up in the Methodist Church. My parents and grandparents were Methodists. I gave my life to Christ at a Lay Witness Mission that came to our Methodist church in Philadelphia when I was in high school. Although this event was not about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit was very much a part of that weekend. It was during that weekend that I first heard people speak in tongues.

When I went to college I got involved with a Catholic Charismatic prayer group. Although the majority of those in this group were Catholic there were also a number of us Protestants from various denominations. That group prayed for me to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and shortly thereafter I began to speak in tongues. In my college and seminary years I was involved with a number of different charismatic groups. And when I graduated from seminary and began pastoring a local United Methodist church I knew I would have to find some like-minded Spirit-filled United Methodists if I was going to survive.

James W. Goll and Julia Loren, Shifting Shadows of Supernatural Experiences: A Manual for Experiencing God (Shippensburg: Destiny Image, 2007), 244 pages, ISBN 9780768424973.

James W. Goll and Julia Loren did not simply write another book on supernatural experiences. Emerging out of their own lives and academic study, this book has been written for those who want to know more about the different kinds of supernatural experiences they can encounter. James and Julia believe that anyone who seeks God can meet him in powerful and tangible ways.

It is essential to read any book which deals with supernatural phenomena with appropriate skepticism and discernment. At the same time, we need to remain humble and open minded to see how we can experience God’s gifts and presence in our lives. This book implies that every believer can have supernatural experiences like visions, trances, even out-of-body experiences. But is this true? Or are these experiences only for certain believers?

The authors seek to answer many questions about spiritual experiences. What are the types of spiritual experiences that are common to humankind? How can you tell if an experience comes from the Holy Spirit or from somewhere else? What is a figment of our imagination? What arises from our minds and psychological or emotional states? Or what, perhaps, may originated in the demonic realm? What do you do with those experiences? (15). For the most part, the writers have answered these questions. However, discussing the interaction of the demonic within the realm of supernatural experiences—it is mentioned only a few times throughout the book—seems incomplete.

This book can serve as a starting point to develop an experiential theology. From this book one can learn how to articulate personal supernatural experiences and compare them with biblical examples. This book clearly deals with pneumatological (study of the Holy Spirit), and ecclesiastical (church) issues. One example is the recognition that the church is a pneumatic community, and that we should test supernatural experiences in a communal setting. As Jim Goll states, “In a world of imperfect people, God-given revelation can be mixed with competing information from sources that are not from God. People functioning as prophetic mouthpieces or visionaries are imperfect instruments, though vital to the Church today” (218). This underscores the need to develop a process of communal discernment that allows the Spirit of God to validate or disregard supernatural encounters.

This fascinating book will inspire, confirm and uplift those who are interested in learning about supernatural experiences given by the Holy Spirit. Some readers may find accounts similar to their own experiences, and others may be introduced to personal encounters with the Holy Spirit unlike anything they have known before. Although one has to be careful not to generalize supernatural experiences, this book can serve as a tool to develop a theology of supernatural experiences. It was thought provoking yet spiritual, indicating that God has much in store for us.

Reviewed by Rony Reyes

Rick Richardson, Experiencing Healing Prayer: How God Turns Our Hurts into Wholeness (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 249 pages, ISBN 0830832572.

Introduction

In his new book, Experiencing Healing Prayer, author Rick Richardson contends that true biblical healing is much more than the removal of physical pain or the alleviation of a physical disease. Instead, he argues, biblical healing is a journey in which the believer trusts in God for the healing of the whole person. Such healing may include deliverance from addictions, identity crises, negative imaginations, bitterness, social ills, and other problems that may be related to one’s soul or inner being.

According to Richardson, Jesus practiced a “whole-person” approach to healing (p. 27). He writes: “Healing is primarily about the transformation of the person into a truer and more whole follower, worshipper and lover of God” (p. 27). He further writes that healing is a process that affects people on different levels of their being. He asserts: “Healing is an inside-out deal. We are transformed from the core of who we are. As we experience and live out that transformation, we are healed on every level” (p. 30).

Richardson is associate director of evangelism for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA. He is also an ordained priest with the Anglican Mission in America, and holds a Master of Divinity degree from Northern Baptist Seminary. He is coauthor with Brenda Salter McNeil of The Heart of Racial Justice.

His new book is a practical guide that explains “how God turns our hurts into wholeness.” In addition to offering tips and guidelines for those who need healing, it provides a model for those who wish to have a healing ministry. The book offers insight into the ministry of Christ and makes a strong argument for a ministry that brings healing to the whole person.

An overview

Richardson covers his topic in 17 chapters. Most of them conclude with discussion questions and a healing prayer. He includes a detailed Appendix section that highlights the need for healing in race relations. In the same section, he provides a model for a healing prayer ministry. He also offers advice for accountability.

Richardson opens his work with a discussion that illustrates the need for healing on many levels. He notes such issues as divorce, broken homes, sexual addictions, pornography and problems with gender identity, among others. He follows this discussion with a look at biblical healing. Interestingly enough, he begins the topic with a review of a television evangelist who promises miracles for money. Richardson uses this as a launching point to explain the nature of healing from a biblical perspective. He uses Christ and the Apostle Paul as examples to follow.

Robert Heidler, Experiencing the Spirit: Developing a Living Relationship with the Holy Spirit (Ventura, CA: Renew/Gospel Light, 1998), 259 pages.

In recent years God has been moving upon evangelical Christians who have been skeptical about contemporary expressions of the gifts of the Spirit, ushering them into charismatic experiences of their own. Robert Heidler is one of those people. In the early 1980’s he underwent a radical transformation in reference to both his understanding and experience of the Spirit. Heidler graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with a Th.M. in New Testament Literature and Exegesis. While he was in seminary he planted a church, and upon graduation became its pastor.

Experiencing The Spirit is a mixture of testimony and teaching. In the beginning of the book, Heidler shares his story, admitting that he was not supportive of the charismatic position. He thought that charismatics were, to use his words, “way off base.” He also admits that he warned the people in his church about seeking spiritual experiences.

A number of things contributed to changing his mind about the Spirit. One was the hunger in his own soul. As he read the New Testament he was frustrated with the fact that the people in the Bible had experiences with God that were foreign to his own experience. A second thing which played upon his mind was the fact that his family had a charismatic friend who would call their home whenever one of the members of the family was sick, she would pray for the person who was ill—and they would be healed. Another thing that helped change his mind was the breakthrough that he and his wife experienced during a very trying time in their lives. The breakthrough came when another charismatic friend of theirs prayed for them and the next day the presence of God descended on their home.

The rest of the book is a study of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Heidler covers such topics as the personality of the Spirit, the indwelling of the Spirit and the transforming work of the Spirit. The final chapters are devoted to the charismatic work of the Spirit including tongues, prophecy and healing, but the book is not a heavy theological treatise. Heidler’s writing is very easy to read and he offers scriptural support for the things that he teaches. One of the significant points that he makes in the book—which might be especially helpful to those who say that we should not seek experiences with the Spirit—is that the people in the Bible did have experiences with the Spirit. While I have some minor points of difference with Heidler, overall I found the book to be very good and encouraging.