Paul King, who is a Bible teacher, evangelist, educator, historian, pastor, and cancer survivor, has distinguished qualifications to talk about what God has done and what God is doing. In this interview with PneumaReview.com, we speak with him about his own story and his recent book, Is It of God? that addresses crucial questions about biblical discernment.

PneumaReview.com: Please tell our readers how you came into the Charismatic Renewal.

Paul King: I grew up in the Christian and Missionary Alliance, which believed in the filling of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit on paper, but little in practice because of fear of Pentecostal excesses. I was baptized in the Spirit in my first year of college, out of the ongoing overflow of the Asbury College revival in February 1970. I was attending Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and had returned from a beach evangelism team to Florida, feeling very frustrated that I had no power to witness. A student ministry team from the Asbury Revival came to Beaver Falls in April 1970, sharing their testimonies of the great outpouring of the Spirit upon the students. They had something I didn’t have and I began seeking. A few weeks later, I wandered into an Assemblies of God church and the pastor laid hands on me and prayed for me. I did not speak in tongues, but I went out from there with a power I never had before, and I began doing street witnessing with great power and effects, and kids were getting saved.

Even though my Pentecostal friends said I didn’t get it, I did realize that although I didn’t speak in tongues, Jesus said the evidence of the baptism in the Spirit was power to be a witness (Acts 1:8). My ministry was so powerful and effective that Young Life asked me to join their staff. I prayed for the Lord to give me His better gifts, not tongues. I began to get words of prophecy and supernatural words of knowledge even though I had not spoken in tongues. But the Lord convicted me, saying, “If you are not willing to receive what you consider the least of my gifts, what makes you think you should receive any of my gifts?” I was so humbled and convicted, I repented, and began praying, “Lord, I want what you want. If you want me to speak in tongues, I want to speak in tongues. If you don’t want me to speak in tongues, I don’t want to speak in tongues. I was praying this 10 months after I was baptized in the Spirit while driving to my uncle’s home to paint his house. Strange words came to my mind and I spoke them out. I prayed, “Lord, if this is genuine, give me an interpretation.” Immediately to my mind came the words, “The arm of the Lord is extended to you,” and I knew it was real. I had no emotion like I did when I was baptized in the Spirit, just a calm peace (Good thing while I was driving!)

Dr. Paul King is a man with significant academic credentials. He holds two doctorates, one from Oral Roberts University and one from the University of South Africa. He has served on the faculty of Oral Roberts University, he has also served as a Faculty Mentor at United Theological Seminary for the Randy Clark Scholars in their Doctor of Ministry Program. In addition to teaching, Dr. King has authored a number of books and has served in pastoral ministry. He has been involved in ministry for almost 50 years and is an ordained minister with the Christian & Missionary Alliance denomination.

Is It Of God? is devoted to the subject of spiritual discernment. More specifically, the author writes to help believers determine if certain teachings, practices, or manifestations are from God. This current volume is the first of two volumes; the second will be released at a later date. The main body of the book consists of 20 chapters and 3 appendixes. In the course of his writing King cites some well-known Christians from the past, the list includes, A. W. Tozer, A. B. Simpson, and Jonathan Edwards. There is a lot of material in this book, some of which is quite detailed. The text contains some Hebrew and Greek but these are not major features of the book, the material in the text is very accessible and the size of the print is comfortable.

These are some of the topics that Dr. King covers in this book: why we need discernment, the biblical foundations of discernment, the biblical principles of discernment, cessationism, and continuationism. He discusses why revival is so messy (a mixture of divine, human, and at times, demonic elements). In the course of discussing revivals he compares some of the characteristics of the revivals in Brownsville, Toronto, and Lakeland against certain discernment criteria. He also addresses the question “If It Is Miraculous, Is It Always From God?” (Chapter 13).

J.D. King has a wide-range of roles-and experience-in the local and larger Body of Christ. He has been a key part of the well-known revival that launched from what is now known as World Revival Church. Interesting, not only has he been a part, he has remained as a lead trainer and mentor of those who have been touched by the move of God and desire to carry it to other communities—and around the world. In fact, he is now pastor of the church located in Kansas City, Missouri. He has experienced revival, been used by God as a part of a team to sustain and spread revival, and currently pastors, many years later, the church from which the revival was launched. Beyond the revival and local church experience, he has wide readership in both print media, including Charisma Media, and a large social media following due to a popular blog covering a wide range of subjects. Related to the book I am reviewing, Regeneration: A Complete History of Healing in the Christian Church, Volume 2, he has researched the subject independently for nearly two decades. His experience with revival, healing in the local church, and years of independent research provides him a very broad lenses to view and share on the ministry of healing—both today and in the larger context of Church history.

The stated purpose of the book, to present healing as a central part of Church history and Christian heritage, is a challenging one, to say the least. Has healing truly been in practice, beyond small pockets, for these thousands of years? Is it possible that healing is really part of the Gospel-and practice-of the Church instead of just being a side issue that is at best tolerated? There are many years-and “streams”-to cover—not to mention personalities to profile and highlight. This is exactly what J.D. King set out to see and to reveal. The result is this massive three volume set of books. It has received positive reviews from scholars and ministry leaders such as Dr. Randy Clark, Dr. Michael Brown, and Dr. Craig Keener.

Though I have, and had heavily “skimmed,” all three volumes, I chose to review the second volume. This volume covers the years 1947 to the present (and the various movements that came throughout those years). This covers Salvation-Healing through what has been dubbed the Third Wave. I have to admit that I, too, love healing ministry and equipping others to see healings, but there is also so much to learn by looking back and seeing the figures God used and the movements they were a part of. There is so much to be gleaned from the personalities, theologies, and experiences of these men and women. Past areas of study, for me, included salvation-healing, Word of Faith, and Third Wave, but, from my reading of this volume, I really picked out a lot of good “nuggets” about men, women and movements that I thought I knew much about already. One example is the life and ministry of John Wimber (And by extension, Bill Johnson, who was influenced by and reflects Wimber’s legacy today.). I had wondered how the author would cover so much history in three volumes, but King does a great job packing a lot of useful information into a very readable flow of words that keeps your attention. The pages have the information that make it useful (along with many, many footnotes that point to additional resources for the true researcher) for the scholar; but also a flow that makes it accessible to the hungry heart, too. The book may challenge the reader at times. I felt my “Feathers being ruffled” while reading the section on Word of Faith, but by the end of the section, I had to admit it was a fair reflection. It did not degrade the movement as many have, but it does show you the good, the bad, and the ugly. It documents the shifts within the movement itself. For me, the small section of “Missing the Spirit?” is a great commentary on the movement, but causes us to check our own hearts as well. We need the Word and the Spirit, but, most of all, we need the “prayer and fellowship with the Father.” It is clear that a man who is both an ardent researcher and pastor has composed these volumes.

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).

Rescuing Our Pentecostal Heritage

Randy Clark, Stories of Divine Healing: Supernatural Testimonies that Ignite Faith for Your Healing (NMG/Destiny Image, 2018), 288 pages.

While attending the Society For Pentecostal Studies meeting in Cleveland, Tennessee in early 2018, I had a troubling conversation about the viability of divine healing. A young academic told me he accepted the possibility of marvelous works but insisted that the occurrences were rare. He reiterated, “I have never witnessed a miraculous work nor am I acquainted with anyone who has.” He suggested that recent healing claims were mostly outlandish.

His statements dumbfounded me. This man carried Pentecostal credentials but sounded like a skeptic from a European university. Though rooted in the Spirit-filled tradition, he was suspicious of any display of the supernatural.

As incredulity flowed from his mouth, it reminded me of the assertions of David Hume. Centuries ago, this philosopher argued that miracles are chiefly observed among the pagans. “If a civilized people has ever given admission to any of them that people will be found to have received them from ignorant and barbarous ancestors.”[1]

Many are questioning what used to be widely accepted. Whether Spirit-filled or not,[4] miracles have “aroused unease of intellectual conflict for Christians formed by the enlightenment of the West.”[5]

Credible Accounts

Fortunately, publications are being released that document healing and miraculous encounters. Most of these works were not written with the scholarly community in mind, but they offer a credible analysis of the extraordinary works of God.

According to the back cover, King is Deputy Director of the Sider Centre at Eastern University. She is just another Christian leader to add her voice in a growing choir supporting the animal liberation movement started by Dr. Andrew Linzey in 1976. This book is her attempt to help convince Evangelicals (i.e. those that believe the Bible and that Jesus is Lord and Savior who died and rose again to save us from our sins) to care about animals suffering and death as well as to provide advice for how to live out that care in practical terms.

The book is organized into three sections. Part 1, Looking at the Word through the Animal Lens, seeks to convince Evangelicals that our understanding of dominion and use of animals stems from a misreading of Scripture. Drawing heavily from the theologies of Andrew Linzey and Jürgen Moltmann (and others), King argues that humans should see our roles towards animals as servants and fellow creatures serving God. She asserts that God commanded a vegan diet (based on Genesis 2) and that our misunderstanding of dominion has led us to the mistaken belief that we can use violence against our fellow creatures, the animals.

In Part 2, Intersection and Bridges (The Oppression Connection), she turns to discuss more philosophical issues such as animal suffering (does it matter?), being human, hierarchy as a heresy, creation care, pro-life as including animals, and more. The goal of this section is simple. First, she wants to exploit our tendency to have compassion by emphasizing the myriad number of ways we cause animals to suffer. Second, she seeks to break down the notion that our status as humans gives us the right to harm and eat animals. Third, she argues for humans to be consistently non-violent both with each other and towards animals, our other neighbor.

With Parts 1 and 2 in hand, King turns to tell readers how to live out their new-found compassion in concrete terms. Part 3, Now What? The Basics of Treating Animals Well, provides a series of actions to help readers adopt a vegan diet and cruelty free lifestyle. King provides advice on how to start (begin with baby steps) and how to communicate with your non-vegan friends. She is both encouraging and gives specific, and frequently, absolutist directives on how followers should behave to achieve cruelty-free status.

This book is different from other food morality books I have read and/or reviewed in that King comes to the subject not as an intellectual but as a social change warrior. She actually worked for the shock-lobby group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, otherwise known as PETA. I have no doubt that she is a true believer in the food morality movement. I can respect her for at least trying to integrate her faith in Christ with her ideology. Too many Christians live schizophrenic lives. I do not believe that she does and I think that says something positive about her character.

Son of God: Their Empire, His Kingdom (20th Century Fox). Actors: Darwin Shaw, Sebastian Knapp, Paul Knops, and Darcie Lincoln. Directors: Christopher Spencer. Music by Hans Zimmer.

Son of God is a dramatization, taken from the memoirs of John the Apostle, played by Sebastian Knapp, that starts with the Savior’s brief ministry on His way to Calvary’s Cross and finishes with our Lord’s Resurrection and promised return.

Richard Bedser, one of its 4 writers, was also a writer for the History Channel’s 2011 documentary, Gettysburg—which should speak well of his talent and that of the team of writers, directors, actors and actresses and all who were chosen for this monumental endeavor.

The difficult task before them was to recreate the picture of betrayal and rejection that would lead to Jesus’ death. This biblical story line with the time constraint movies must honor, in 138 minutes, had to feature a selected few of Jesus’ many miracles and sayings. The first half of the movie then features Jesus crisscrossing the holy land under the observation of a Jewish religious leadership that represents a hostility growing more visceral with each word or act of mercy He shares.

Christopher Spencer, the director, correctly understood that the narrative to have any historical relevance needed more than the suspenseful music that now drapes the backdrop of every modern film. Spencer needed a story line that could integrate the miracles of Christ into a single culminating event—his crucifixion. As scholarship knows, one part of the story was inevitable in this regard: the resurrection of Lazarus. This alone would seal the Savior’s fate.

One Sadducee in the movie betrays the general attitude about Jesus among the religious leaders, “There is nothing unusual about Him aside from His ability to cause havoc!”

Jesus’ choice of a tax-collector, Matthew, is featured and appears to be the beginning of his troubles with the religious authorities of the day. Jesus’ notoriety as a potential problem takes off with children flocking about Him by the hundreds and disrupting a Pharisee holding Yeshiva under a tent. Jesus frees a woman taken in adultery and then pronounces an invalid forgiven before helping him to his feet, healed. He cleanses the temple court while crowds of would-be followers surround Him.

The movie does not follow the biblical text without a bit of drama added, a timeline rearranged, and a few details missing. Jesus does not shed tears at Lazarus’ grave, for example. Instead He enters the tomb and kisses His deceased friend on the head.

But I didn’t find this change of narrative offensive because the purpose behind the scene—behind the entire movie—was to help me live the inspiration behind a Divine idea that led to my own salvation. Also, it is safe to say that the words spoken by Jesus here are a reasonable translation of some of our Lord’s actual sayings.

Michael L. Brown, Authentic Fire: A Response to John MacArthur’s Strange Fire (Excel Publishers, Dec 12, 2013), 418 pages.

Dr. Michael Brown in his work Authentic Fire confronts the misinformation of Pastor John MacArthur’s outspoken zeal against all things charismatic in his book, Strange Fire. While Dr. Brown admits that on some points Dr. MacArthur is right on, his language is radically abusive in tone. And some of Pastor MacArthur’s comments are simply untrue. Brown carefully separates the message from the messenger in addressing charismatic abuse before proceeding to the good stuff: how to burn with authentic fire.

How successful Pentecostal movements have been at policing their own—or if they have just been policing their ammunition, cleaning up their own crime scene to mitigate the charges—is debated early. This is a must read section for persons like myself who miss the mourners bench and the witness from the unlearned that God is among us (1 Corinthians 14:16). Charismatic abuses are undeniable: the prosperity doctrine; slain in the ‘spirit’ but not healed; emotionalism without holiness; game-show hype and seeker-centric services instead of the message of the Cross; the superficial replacing the spiritual. Brown recognized that we are catering our gospel to carnality.

But as Brown shows, there is a true spirit of co-operation with God’s Spirit among a large segment of Pentecostal leadership to penitently admit the self-centric extremes visible in their midst and to confront it with biblical truth. Brown has been outspoken in past writings about what he called the “gospel” of self. Simply put: MacArthur has nothing constructive to add to the honest voices within Pentecost that call for repentance. MacArthur’s Strange Fire, which required a response in the writing of Authentic Fire, provides mere background static that drives Pentecostals to go on the defense—something Brown cautions against and wants to prevent from happening.

Ira D. Sankey (1840-1908) was an American gospel singer and hymn writer best known for his association with evangelist D. L. Moody.

Brown says that some of MacArthur’s ranting is a false attack akin to what England’s ministerium did in 1874 when they labeled the powerful outcomes of Ira Sankey’s singing as human conceit and not worship. But emotion is not emotionalism. A move of God’s Spirit often elicits a heartfelt response which is smothered in the name of propriety or order by well-meaning but misguided church leadership—who are afraid to express the full depth of their Christian experience [Luke 6:23; 10:20;19:37]. If there was abuse, it was in requiring a charismatic outburst—and not simply allowing a passionate response to happen.

MacArthur is a cessationist maintaining that tongues and prophecy have ceased based on his interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:8. MacArthur called a Pentecostal revival service “craziness” and an “emotional orgy.” No wonder Brown had to respond in a gentle spirit while encouraging charismatic believers who only want a closer reality of their Savior and to be under His administration. In Brown’s words: “I embraced it with tears of joy while others mocked it. And that’s the great concern I have today.”

Brown speaks of MacArthur’s judgment of a move of the Holy Spirit as a faulty exegesis of Scripture and a flawed pneumatology. Brown provides scriptural insight to support this assertion. It is also noteworthy that MacArthur has been looking at a small percentage of American ministries that are not at all representative of the global move of God’s Spirit.

Paul King is a scholar at Oral Roberts University and an ordained minister of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. In this volume of some 400 pages, beautifully published by Word & Spirit Press of Tulsa, Oklahoma he examines the thought of the Word of Faith movement. He does this in a novel and innovative way. Instead of the “overkill” approach that we saw among the heresy hunters of the 1980s and 90s, King first takes a good look at the history of Christianity. Among the Early Church Fathers, Medieval Mystics, Protestant Reformers, Puritans and Pietists he finds precursors of many Faith teachings. He gives special attention to the classic Evangelical authors of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. This is an area where King is an acknowledged expert. He is well acquainted with the Holiness, Healing and Pentecostal movements. He even makes a distinction between the Keswick and Higher Life movements that I have always seen as one movement.

Throughout this very readable book, you will find numerous citations from classic faith leaders such as George Mueller, A.J. Gordon, R. A. Torrey, A. B. Simpson, Charles Spurgeon and Andrew Murray. King has made a detailed study of John A. MacMillan who wrote the seminal volume, The Authority of the Believer.

From this solid historical basis King develops his major thesis, namely that the Gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to practice a healthy faith that is both strong and solid. What this looks like is worth pursuing, and King is a thoughtful and helpful guide.

By ferreting out the faith doctrines among the classic authors of the previous two centuries, King is illustrating to us what should have been obvious – that Word of Faith teaching did not just suddenly fall out of the sky. It grew organically out of a nineteenth century context. It may be that the unfortunate and jarring overreaction of much of established Christianity to the amazing work of God in the Azusa Street revival of 1906 – 1909, with some writers describing the first steps of Classical Pentecostalism with extreme pejoratives such as “the last vomit of Satan” led to the total disjunction and separation of these branches of Christianity. King’s book is a bridge to restore dialogue and mutually beneficial conversations.

The major part of this study probes the theological and practical issues that one usually sees as distinctive of the Word of Faith movement. King prefers the term “contemporary faith.” These issues include the nature of faith, the authority of the believer, spiritual laws, logos and rhema, revelation knowledge and Healing in the atonement. He also looks at positive confession, discernment and prosperity. Where necessary he expresses his reservations clearly.