Having recently read and reviewed Angels of Light by Eddie Hyatt, Pastor Larry Russi asks questions to clarify and go even more in-depth.

Larry Russi: Thank you Dr. Hyatt for agreeing to do this interview. I was greatly blessed by your book.

Eddie L. Hyatt, Angels of Light: False Prophets and Deceiving Spirits at Work Today in the Church and the World (Hyatt Press, 2018), 120 pages, ISBN 9781888435252.
Read the review by Larry Russi.

Larry Russi: What were the main factors that prompted you to write Angels of Light?

Eddie Hyatt: Having been in Pentecostal/charismatic ministry for almost 50 years and having done my doctoral dissertation on spiritual awakenings in church history, I was aware of the good in Holy Spirit movements but also the dangers and pitfalls. In contemporary prophetic and revival movements I could see many of the same trends that had led to entire movements falling into heresy and destructive practices. This is what inspired me to write Angels of Light. I wrote out of a deep concern that we learn from the lessons of history and not repeat the same mistakes.

Larry Russi: What has been the response to this work?

Eddie Hyatt: The volume of response has been moderate, but the quality of response has been very enthusiastic.

To cite one example: Before he passed away, T.L. Osborn read one of the chapters in the book, which was published as an article at the time. He strongly commended what I had written and went on to say how shocked and embarrassed he was at some of the things going on in the modern charismatic movement—particularly in people chasing signs and miracles, rather than preaching the gospel and letting the signs follow the preaching the word.

Larry Russi: As for the future of Pentecostal/charismatic churches, do you see this deception continuing and intensifying or do believe that we will return to our Biblical roots.

Eddie Hyatt: I believe the Bible teaches a mixture in the last days.

Deception has seeped into the church since its founding and it seems to be intensifying as we get closer to the Lord’s return.

For example, at the time that this review was being written a church that calls itself Pentecostal has added a psychic medium to their staff who claims to commune with the dead.

When the disciples asked Jesus what would be the sign of His coming and the end of the age, he immediately replied to watch that no one deceives you. In three more verses in Matthew 24, Jesus mentions the word deceive.

Not only did the Lord give warnings about deception, but Paul, Peter, and Jude wrote much on this subject.

In this well-documented and well-researched book, Dr. Eddie L. Hyatt (D. Min. Regent University) writes a compelling treatise on deception, which the Bible says will be prevalent in the latter days.

Taking the scriptures to heart, Hyatt sounds an alarm. Believers need to be serious about not falling into deception.

When reading this small, but powerful work, one gets the feeling that the author is grieved at the deception, from the flesh and from the devil, that has infiltrated the church. He is greatly concerned that there is such a great fascination with miracles and a lack of discernment by many modern charismatics. He wonders if many will embrace the Antichrist who will come with his signs, wonders, and false miracles. Hyatt presents a number of ways that we can test the spirits to see if they are indeed of God.

In the third chapter, Hyatt provides five warning signs from a document entitled “Confessions” written around 1560 by Anabaptist leader, Obe Philips, to show how a prophetic movement can go astray. He believes that the material in this paper is very important as it contains information that will help us avoid tragic mistakes, which can be detrimental to the believer and a move of God.

All five are very important, but two stand out. Warning sign #1: “When Prophecy is Used to Enhance the Status of a Movement or an Individual.” Hyatt reminds us that “Satan plays on human ego and pride” and that we must humble ourselves before the Lord. He makes an important point by writing that the ultimate goal of prophecy is to point people to Jesus.

Warning sign #5: “When Prophecy Becomes a Replacement for the Scriptures and Common Sense.” Hyatt stresses the importance of the guidance of God’s Word, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). He also quotes Methodist leader John Wesley as one “who saw many unusual spiritual manifestations” and who said, “Try all things by the written word, and let all bow down before it.”

Eddie L. Hyatt, Pursuing Power: How the Historic Quest for Apostolic Authority & Control Has Divided and Damaged the Church (Grapevine, TX: Hyatt Press, 2014), 136 pages, ISBN 9781888435511.

Dr. Eddie Hyatt is known in Pentecostal/Charismatic circles as a man who is passionate about the Word of God, the ministry of the Holy Spirit, and revival. These are major themes in his previous books. In his latest work he addresses what he believes to be a major hindrance to genuine spiritual renewal in the church. This hindrance is the church’s quest for power and control. Hyatt says that his studies have revealed that many, if not most, of the church divisions in history have not been primarily over doctrine but rather over the issue of power—ecclesial power. He substantiates his claim by citing specific examples of this occurring. The picture that emerges is not pretty. As Hyatt says “The pursuit of power has led to the darkest periods of the church’s history, resulting in heresy trials with imprisonments, torture, beheadings and burnings.” The author maintains that this quest for power, which has often been set forth as a means to secure unity, is contrary to the teaching and example of the Lord Jesus Christ. This book is not merely a critique of the past and present errors of the church, it tells us how to move forward into a more biblical and productive future.

A good portion of this book is given to showing that the church’s quest for power has often been rooted in an attempt to be apostolic. Hyatt defines apostolic for us, “‘Apostolic’ was the word used to claim that their faith was the same as that of those first apostles of the Lord, i.e. of the Twelve and Paul. ‘Apostolic’ thus took on the meaning of being ‘connected to’ or being ‘like’ the apostles.” Hyatt demonstrates that throughout history, various groups within the church have claimed to be apostolic in different ways. Some have claimed to be apostolic because their leaders had been taught by the original apostles, others claimed apostolic lineage based on a chain of church leadership that stretched back to the original apostles; still others based their claim on being part of one of the main churches mentioned in the New Testament, such as Jerusalem, Ephesus, or Antioch. Other grounds used to claim that a group was apostolic were a deep spirituality, a return to strong biblical doctrine, a commitment to the missionary mandate of the church, and an alleged return to the New Testament form of church government.

This is a pre-publication review of John MacArthur, Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship (Thomas Nelson, Nov 12, 2013) 9781400205172.

As a life-long Pentecostal-Charismatic, I recommend that every Pentecostal-Charismatic leader read Strange Fire by John MacArthur. I say this because we need to see how the bizarre “spiritual” behavior and doctrinal extremes by some in our movement are viewed by those on the outside and are used to whitewash the entire movement. We have done a very poor job of addressing these problems from within, so I do not doubt that God has raised up a voice that is fundamentally opposed to our movement to address these extremes. If God could use a pagan Babylonian king to discipline his people Israel for their sins (Jeremiah 25:8-11), could he not use a merciless fundamentalist preacher to point out our shortcomings?

That being said, MacArthur’s latest book does not represent an honest search for truth. It is obvious that his mind was already made up when he began his research for Strange Fire, and he found what he was looking for. He presents a circular argument, beginning with a faulty premise and proceeding with selective anecdotal evidence that determines the outcome. He begins with a commitment to cessationism, the belief that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were withdrawn from the church after the death of the twelve apostles and the completion of the writings of the New Testament. Since that is the case for him, that means modern expressions of Spiritual gifts must be false. He then utilizes the selective anecdotal evidence to buttress his presupposition, which leads him back to his starting point of cessation.

It seems that MacArthur wants to believe the worst about the movement of which he writes. At times I felt he was embellishing the bad to make it even worse. For example, Oral Roberts was not a Christian brother with whom he had profound differences but a heretic who did much damage to the body of Christ, “the first of the fraudulent healers to capture TV, paving the way for the parade of spiritual swindlers who have come after him” (155). Make no mistake about it, MacArthur is not out to bring correction to a sector of Christianity with which he disagrees; his goal is to destroy a movement he considers false, heretical and dangerous.

Have you ever been told that the charismatic movement is new and therefore theologically suspicious? Do not believe such rumors because they are not true, as this book clearly demonstrates. Actually, there may not be another book available today that presents such a continuity of the ministry of the Holy Spirit throughout church history. This book handily debunks the old claim that Pentecostal/charismatics are the new kids on the theological block.

This readable history of the charismata offers convincing evidence that Pentecostal/charismatics stand in a long tradition of God’s supernatural power in His people. From the book of Acts, to the time of persecution under the Roman emperors, to the suppression of the charismata with the institutionalization of the church, to the preservation of those gifts among some ecclesiastical orders and movements outside the institutional church, to the rediscovery of the gifts by the Great Reformation, to the Wesleys and the holiness movements that followed them, to the 20^th Century Pentecostal and charismatic movements—Hyatt summarizes the history of the supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit among God’s people.

Eddie L. Hyatt

As a student of Pentecostal/charismatic history, the most significant highlights for me were: the succinct way in which the institutionalizing of the church under Constantine was presented as the quencher of the gifts; the explanation of the Anabaptists and Mennonites in contrast to the excessive movements that started from the same Radical Reformation; and a more thorough look at the real nature of Charles Parham’s ministry and its impact on the early Pentecostal movement. Two things I would have liked to have seen would be, first, a summary of some of the great research Dr. Jack Deere on the charismatic nature of the Great Reformation (see especially Surprised by the Voice of God from Zondervan, 1998). Dr. Deere makes quite a case for how any history of the supernatural has been suppressed by anti-charismatic religious leaders (Unfortunately, Hyatt seems to make the same mistake as many classical Pentecostals in equating Calvinism with cessationism [see page 112]. Of course, charismatic Calvinists would object to this assertion). Secondly, the locations of historical events and people seemed to move further and further west throughout the chronology. Although this is an excellent beginning, I also long to see a history of Eastern and global Christianity from a Pentecostal/charismatic perspective.

Looking forward, Hyatt tells us the lessons we stand to learn, “History would inform us that the key for the church in the twenty-first century is not to be found in outward form and structure. Both the New Testament and church history indicate that the key for the church is to be found in an inner attitude of faith in Christ and an openness to the wind of the Spirit that blows, not where He must, but where He wills” (p. 191).

I highly recommend this introduction to the undeniable history of the gifts and ministry of the Holy Spirit through all of church history.

Reviewed by Raul L. Mock

Preview 2000 Years: books.google.com/books/?id=_7Rr7vX6TegC