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Discovering the Reality of God in Word and Spirit: an interview with R. T. Kendall

R. T. Kendall — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 22:41:47 +0000

Dr. R. T. Kendall has been preaching for over sixty years. He has also personally experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. For twenty-five years he served as the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London. He is the author of many books and now ministers internationally. He is a strong advocate for bringing together in the church the exposition of the Word and the power of the Spirit.
An updated version of his book, Word and Spirit: Truth, Power, and the Next Great Move of God was released in October 2019.

PneumaReview.com: In Word & Spirit you have written about a great divorce in the church. Please tell our readers what you mean by that.

R. T. Kendall: I call it a silent divorce because nobody knows precisely when it occurred nor has it been officially announced – except that I have been saying it for nearly thirty years. That said, it is obvious that the evangelical wing of the church has been divided into two emphases – those who stress the Word – sound doctrine, historical Protestant theology and expository preaching, and those whose emphasis has been the gifts of the Spirit, signs and wonders and the need to be as the church was in the book of Acts. Both are exactly right. But it seems that nearly wherever I go in the world it is either one or the other. In the book of Acts they had both. But to find a church where both are truly carried out is exceedingly rare.

PneumaReview.com: What are some of the key factors that have contributed to this divorce?

R. T. Kendall: I don’t know for sure, but possibly because those who have assumed that signs and wonders ceased way back in the early church have espoused cessationism and have turned it into a dogma. If you believe in the gifts of the Spirit you are not very welcome in some churches. They are suspicious of those who uphold the possibility of signs and wonders today. I will say that this is not everywhere. In England the Charismatic Movement is mainstream; in America it is often regarded as the lunatic fringe. Cessationism has helped polarize these two movements. There should not be a divide, but there is. The word churches think they believe in the Holy Spirit because they are Trinitarian. The truth is, they believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Bible. Many are fearful of the Holy Spirit. At the same time many (thankfully not all) have little or no deep theology. For example, a robust view of the sovereignty of God is largely absent.

PneumaReview.com: You have said that there is a lot of biblical illiteracy in the church, even among Evangelical and Charismatic Christians. What are some of the main reasons for this?

The Holy Spirit is the same yesterday and today and forever!

R. T. Kendall: It largely begins with doubting the infallibility of Holy Scripture. For one thing, it is very rare to find a theology department in a university where the infallibility of the Bible is upheld. The same is true with most seminaries today. I suspect the reason is much the same as the desire of ancient Israel; they wanted a king to be like other nations. Today theological teachers and professors want to be like the more respected universities such as Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge or some German universities. This is deadly. It is pride that leads to this. They want respectability; they cannot bear to be seen as upholding the inerrancy of the Bible lest they be scoffed and laughed at. I know what I am talking about. It happens that I was trained in Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville that was almost totally liberal at the time although they are sound today. It needs to be said also that some pastors have not been trained in university or seminary and don’t know their Bibles very well and the people consequently suffer from biblical illiteracy. There are exceptions. But not many, I fear.

Logic on Fire: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, reviewed by R. T. Kendall

R. T. Kendall — Sat, 03 Oct 2015 21:47:31 +0000

Logic on Fire: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Media Gratiae, 2015). Matthew Robinson, director. 3 disc DVD set with 5 postcard prints and cloth-bound book (128 pages).

Logic on Fire is a documentary film about the life and ministry of the greatest preacher of the twentieth century, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981). I hope that all Christians, especially ministers, will view it. He was known by all as “the Doctor” because he was a physician before he entered the ministry. Following G. Campbell Morgan, he became the minister of Westminster Chapel (1938-1968). His close relationship with the renowned Lord Horder, the king’s physician, is given space in the film; it is essential to understanding the Doctor. Having learned to diagnose patients by going “from the general to the particular”– ruling out what would be a false diagnosis or illness, Dr. Lloyd-Jones approached Scripture in much the same way; he ruled out what a text could not mean and came to understand what it does mean. He became possibly the greatest Bible expositor of all time.

What struck me most about watching this film – which gripped me from the start – is how they emphasized the importance and urgency of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the main reason every person under the sun should view it. If viewers are unconverted or unconcerned about their souls and final destiny before they watch this they will be changed afterwards. For the Doctor was chiefly an evangelist. One of the most striking statements in this video was made by Christopher Catherwood, one of Dr. Lloyd-Jones’s grandsons, explaining that the Doctor’s ministry was not only “not seeker friendly”; it was in fact “seeker unfriendly”. Really? Yes, because an unsaved person should be uncomfortable not comfortable in church! If people would leave in anger after hearing the Doctor he would observe that it is “a good sign” that God is dealing with them. People like this usually return sooner or later in tears and repentance.

Therefore the great benefit of watching his video is that one will gain a fresh grasp of the Gospel and, almost certainly, imbibe a lot of good theology without realizing it. This video has the potential of changing lives like the Doctor’s books have done.

One of the best things about this video is that the viewer can get a glimpse of Martyn Lloyd-Jones the man. We are taken through his medical training, we see him in his first pastorate in Wales and then what it was like at Westminster Chapel during World War II. It is not long before you realize that the Doctor had an extraordinary mind, the kind that perhaps comes along once in a century. The video contains several interviews with people, some of whom knew him. One must admit that the doctor was a bit eccentric. You never saw him except in a three-piece suit, even when he went to the beach with his family! Andrew Davies noted that many preachers tried to imitate his ways and some even wore a suit when going to the beach!

Much space is rightly given to Iain Murray, the doctor’s biographer. I played and replayed some of his cogent comments. And yet the most heart-warming part of the documentary is interviews with his two daughters Elizabeth Catherwood and Ann Beatt. I could go on listening to them for hours. You become immediately aware also of the rare quality of their minds. Each one of the six grandchildren is interviewed. I was moved by his grandson Jonathan Catherwood; he recounts how the Doctor was so patient with him during his teenage years when he was off the rails. From Jonathan we also learn that the Doctor loved to watch wrestling, a fact that used to shock some of the more proper saints at Westminster Chapel!

The doctor was no cessationist.

These things said, I have to report that this video is an incomplete picture of the Doctor. Whereas he would love everything in it, he would be most unhappy with what is not in it. He always called himself “a Calvinistic Methodist”, which the film notes. But by this he meant a strong adherence to the sovereignty of God and stressing the immediate and direct witness of the Holy Spirit. Although this film faithfully demonstrates the doctor’s unashamed Calvinism, it glosses over his teaching on the Holy Spirit – the theological issue nearest to his heart. For example, Pentecostals and Charismatics in Britain always knew that the Doctor was their true friend. But you would never know it by watching this film. It would seem that those with a cessationist teaching controlled this documentary. Pentecostal and Charismatic leaders in Britain were not interviewed. Some still living could have given glowing testimonies of their rapport with Dr. Lloyd-Jones and how he encouraged them. “I’m an eighteenth century man” (referring largely to John Wesley and George Whitefield) “not a seventeenth century man” (referring to the Puritans), he would often say. The doctor was no cessationist. And yet none who were interviewed – most of whom did not even know the Doctor – extolled his views about the Holy Spirit. The most disingenuous part of the film is allowing a leading American cessationist to speak about the doctor but who elsewhere ridicules him for “always chasing after the anointing”. The irony is, Dr. Lloyd-Jones wanted that anointing more than he wanted anything in the world.

Reviewed by R. T. Kendall

Visit www.LogicOnFire.org for trailers and exclusive behind-the-scenes content.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LogicOnFireFilm

Listen to and download 1,600 sermons, without cost, by Dr. Lloyd-Jones at the Martyn Lloyd-Jones Trust.

R. T. Kendall: Holy Fire, reviewed by Mark Sandford

Mark Sandford — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 16:31:43 +0000

R. T. Kendall, Holy Fire: A Balanced, Biblical Look at the Holy Spirit’s Work in Our Lives (Lake Mary: Charisma House, 2014), 256 pages, ISBN 9781621366041.

In his prologue, R.T. Kendall sums up the purpose for Holy Fire: to end the “silent divorce…between the Word and the Spirit.” He laments that in any divorce, children are tempted to side with either parent. In this case, there are those who presume that being biblically grounded means relegating the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the apostolic age. And there are those whose use of the gifts is, at times, so biblically ungrounded that their opponents’ stance can seem almost plausible. The vitriol spewed by internet attack dogs is too often matched by the foolishness of some of the Charismatics they attack. I have prayed that someone would write a balanced answer to both sides. R. T.’s humble remonstrations are an answer to that prayer.

So many have built a case to demolish not only the opposing viewpoint, but more pointedly, the persons who hold it! But R. T. offers insights that are not only Biblically sound and scholastically adept; he comes across with a quality equally rare on either side of the debate — love that dignifies even his opponents. As if intervening between squabbling siblings, he sits us both down like a father and makes a solid case for contemporary use of the gifts of the Spirit, while honoring brothers who disagree. More blessedly, he bids both sides to fess up to their own faults in the matter, while inciting no shame. It’s a balancing act that only true father can pull off.

This loving balance is, in the end, what will sway readers of either stripe more than anything. R. T. points out that one of the very originators of cessationism (the idea that the gifts of the Spirit ceased after the time of the apostles), John Calvin, said in his Institutes of the Christian Religion that we know the Bible is the word of God “by the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit” (p 35). R. T.’s ability to locate such common ground is an expression of an understanding heart that has won him respect and a listening ear in both camps.

For those who believe the gifts are indeed for our time, R.T. offers up a soundly biblical renunciation of the kind of ham-fisted arguments that mark, for instance, John MacArthur’s Strange Fire. But he steers Charismatic readers away from an unhealthy focus on who is right and who is wrong in the gifts vs. no-gifts controversy. In its stead, he leads them through a course of self-examination, to ferret out whatever in their own hearts might have led some of them to offer holy fire in such a strange and unsanctified way — including the sins of pride and licentiousness that have motivated the stage antics of faith healers, excessive teachings on prosperity, and a focus on gifts instead of character. R. T. minces no words about the excesses of the Charismatic movement. But unlike its shrill detractors, he offers fatherly corrections aimed at encouraging the Holy Spirit’s work in today’s church, not quenching it.

R. T. Kendall: Holy Fire, reviewed by Tony Richie

Tony Richie — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 21:12:31 +0000

R. T. Kendall, Holy Fire: A Balanced, Biblical Look at the Holy Spirit’s Work in Our Lives (Lake Mary: Charisma House, 2014), 256 pages, ISBN 9781621366041.

R.T. Kendall (DPhil, Oxford University) is no stranger to controversy. Raised in the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition he converted to Calvinism as an adult. Yet his scholarship has challenged contemporary Calvinist interpretations of John Calvin’s original thought and his own ministry has been characterized by openness to charismatic gifts. Kendall’s credibility and giftedness have been clearly established in the crucible of public ministry. For twenty-five years R.T. Kendall was pastor of London’s prestigious Westminster Chapel. He has written more than fifty-five books, including Total Forgiveness, The Sensitivity of the Spirit, Grace, and The Anointing: Yesterday, Today, and Forever. He has appeared frequently on Christian television programming. Born (1935) in Ashland, Kentucky, Kendall currently resides in Hendersonville, Tennessee where, although retired, he is president of R.T. Kendall Ministries and continues to contribute to Christian publications and programs.

Like Holy Fire, Kendall’s website (http://rtkendallministries.com) decries the “silent divorce” that has occurred in Christianity over the centuries between Word and Spirit. He suggests the need of the day is for a balanced approach to Christian belief and practice that integrates both solid commitment to the truth of Scripture and contemporary sensitivity to the power of the Holy Spirit. Readers will certainly see these twin dynamics amply demonstrated in Holy Fire. Further, as Kendall’s open letter to John MacArthur, “Dear Dr. MacArthur,” clearly indicates, Holy Fire was written as a response to MacArthur’s book on Strange Fire. (As a matter of fact, it was written by request from Charisma House publishers.) It is impossible to appreciate Kendall’s arguments in Holy Fire without some awareness of this dynamic. Theologically MacArthur is a cessationist, one who believes spiritual gifts such as divine healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues, and so on, ceased after the apostolic age. His Strange Fire book, based on an earlier conference by the same name, aggressively attacks those of the continuationist view. Theologically, Kendall is a continuationist. Continuationists believe that the Holy Spirit continues to equip believers today for Christian service with spiritual gifts, including but not limited to gifts such as divine healing, prophecy, and speaking in tongues. Continuationists are often known as Pentecostal (Acts 2:1-4) and/or Charismatic (1 Co 12-14) Christians. In short, MacArthur’s Strange Fire is mostly a diatribe against the beliefs and practices of modern Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians while Holy Fire comes to their defense.

Interestingly enough, both Kendall and MacArthur are from the Reformed (i.e. Calvinist) branch of Christianity. In his “Strange Fire” conference, MacArthur criticizes other prominent Calvinists (e.g. John Piper, Wayne Grudem, and Kendall) known for their contemporary acceptance of and openness to spiritual gifts. (See John Piper’s response at http://www.christianpost.com/news/john-piper-talks-john-macarthurs-strange-fire-conference-pursuing-gifts-of-prophecy-and-speaking-in-tongues-109022/.) Although likely many Pentecostals and Charismatics might take exception to MacArthur’s conference and book, Kendall’s response is particularly noteworthy as a Reformed Charismatic work. Thus there are two movements occurring in the middle of this debate, including, perhaps especially, in Kendall’s Holy Fire. The main move addresses questions of whether spiritual gifts or charismata continue to be authentically operative and relevant for contemporary Christians or are they really only appendix-like relics of ancient history. The second move gets at the heart of an internal debate about Reformed Charismatic Christianity exploring whether “Reformed” and “Charismatic” are mutually exclusive concepts.

R. T. Kendall: Holy Fire, reviewed by Craig S. Keener

Craig Keener — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 11:06:41 +0000

R. T. Kendall, Holy Fire: A Balanced, Biblical Look at the Holy Spirit’s Work in Our Lives (Lake Mary: Charisma House, 2014), 256 pages, ISBN 9781621366041.

In his nine-page foreword, Jack Hayford rightly titles this “a landmark book.” He also rightly highlights Kendall’s work as irenic (pp. xxi-xxii), offering a notable contrast to some works today. I did not intend my review to prove as long as Pastor Hayford’s foreword, but if readers find my review too long I should mention that its most salient features appear toward the beginning.

Word and Spirit

Inevitably, any book about the Holy Spirit, with “Fire” in its title and coming out at this time, will be compared with Pastor John MacArthur’s Strange Fire. Comparison is difficult to avoid even though Kendall himself does not mention MacArthur and was interested in writing such a book three decades ago (xxxii).

Whereas Pastor MacArthur’s Strange Fire offers a polemical Reformed cessationist approach, Pastor Kendall’s work offers instead an irenic Reformed charismatic approach. Lest one misunderstand me, I strongly appreciate MacArthur’s calling the church back to the Scriptures; as a biblical scholar, I have devoted my life to the same calling. I believe, however, that MacArthur’s theological presuppositions regarding the Spirit’s activity have obscured for him some key portions of the Bible. Here Kendall offers a better way.

Kendall’s humble and gracious style invites dialogue, and his central objective is one that all readers should appreciate.

Marcus Yoars of Charisma remarks that Kendall “combines the Word and Spirit to … set the record straight.” This emphasis on bringing together of Word and Spirit (xxxi, 72, 123, 171, 173, 175) is probably the book’s most important overall feature. It is certainly an emphasis that is desperately needed today.

The matter is so important for Kendall that he envisions it in terms of a new movement of the Spirit to come. God has used and will continue to use the Pentecostal and charismatic movements, he says, but we need something beyond the helpful emphasis on the Spirit they have already contributed. Rather, we need the bringing together of Word and Spirit (171-72), the bringing together of the gifts of Pentecostals/charismatics with those of conservative evangelicals (174-75). The Spirit often reminds us of what Jesus has already taught (John 14:26; p. 28), and all prophecy must be tested by Scripture (17). In contrast to the counterproductivity of polarizing polemic, Kendall desires for the entire church the best in both evangelical exegesis and charismatic experience.

Kendall concludes the prologue and, more fully, the book as a whole with a prophecy of the early British Pentecostal figure Smith Wigglesworth: “When the Word and the Spirit come together, there will be the biggest movement of the Holy Spirit that … the world has ever seen” (xxxi, 176). Certainly this anticipation appeals to me as a charismatic Bible scholar; indeed, I recently cited this message attributed to Wigglesworth in my contributions to volumes in honor of Benny Aker (But These Are Written) and Ron Sider (Following Jesus).

I can think of no better way to frame the overall message of the book than this message with which he frames it. Regardless of any differences on details, I would recommend this book highly because of this most needed emphasis.

A Reformed Charismatic

Kendall has been charismatic for a long time; he recounts being baptized in the Spirit in 1955 (136) and first praying in tongues a few months later. His initial unexpected experience of the Spirit, accompanied by a vision, deeply transformed his life and ministry (97). He experienced subsequent visions (100-2) and prayer in tongues (100, 104). He further recounts the impact that his wife’s healing had on the entire church (126-27).

R. T. Kendall, Unashamed to Bear His Name: Embracing the Stigma of Being a Christian

Laura Gummerman — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:44:16 +0000

From Pneuma Review Spring 2013

R. T. Kendall, Unashamed to Bear His Name: Embracing the Stigma of Being a Christian (Bloomington, MN: Chosen, 2012), 208 pages, ISBN 9780800795160.

“Ashamed of the Gospel? Who, me?” Today it is easier than ever for individuals to proclaim their religious preference. Targeted mass marketing has made it possible for modern Christians to exhibit their faith at all times with a variety of novelty items. You can wear a parodied Christian t-shirt and offer someone a Bible shaped mint while listening to Christian music in your fish decaled car. In such a Western Christian culture where faith is almost expected to be constantly on display, it can be difficult to admit that there are times when one feels embarrassed, or even ashamed, to be associated with the term “Christian.” I will be the first to admit that I have my list of “Christianisms” that cause me to cringe when I see them acted out in the public arena. I am even more ashamed to confess that there are some aspects of the Gospel message itself are not the most pleasant for me to explain to someone outside of the Christian faith. These are both reasons that the term “Christian” carries (and has always carried) a stigma in the larger realm of society. This stigma is what R. T. Kendall sets out to wrestle with in Unashamed to Bear His Name.

Beware popularity. Biblical Christianity is offensive to unredeemed sensibilities.

Kendall is no stranger to the Christian world, having been the senior minister at Westminster Chapel in London for 25 years, and is certainly qualified to speak on the topic. Kendall starts out by noting that there certainly are things about Christianity that are offensive to those outside the faith. He notes that the heart of the offense is that Christians believe that Jesus Christ, and his shed blood on the cross, is the only way to God—this belief is what society finds truly scandalous. He feels that the stigma comes about by suffering embarrassment for accepting this “scandal” of the Christian faith. This embarrassment is caused by either being a Christian in an age when it is not popular to be such, or by accepting the awkward consequences that can arise when trying to live out God’s will. Kendall suggests that believers not only accept the offense, but rather rejoice in the privilege of bearing the stigma. He argues that in the same way that many of the first believers counted it joy to endure suffering for Christ’s name, we should also take hold of persecution with both hands and celebrate being chosen for the task because it means that God is at work within us. In addition to considering it a privilege to be stigmatized, Kendall also urges his readers to see the folly of being concerned with a tarnished reputation, noting that the benefits from bearing an offense for Christ will far outweigh any negative initial response.

While Kendall admits that much time can be spent arguing over what is offensive and what is not, he lists several activities that he feels are important parts of the unashamed Christian lifestyle. Although the efficacy of the method elicits mixed reactions, Kendall includes confrontational street witnessing in his list, confessing that even he felt ashamed of the behavior at first. At the end of his book he lists three distinct doctrines that, while they can be extremely offensive to non-believers, he believes the church must uphold: creation, predestination, and eternal punishment. Kendall also takes a side in the debate concerning the place of social justice in the Gospel message and strongly cautions that believers not shy away from presenting the stigma of the Gospel as the primary focus when reaching out to the lost.