Beyond Belief It is a, fascinating, extensively researched, encouraging, insightful (but sometimes exasperating) description of the expansion of the worldwide Pentecostal/charismatic churches. For the American Spirit-filled believer, it is also an important source for understanding of the various ways Pentecostal/charismatics are “doing church” throughout the world.

The author, Ms. Elle Hardy, is not an academician, but a master reporter with a proven track record. For Beyond Belief she traveled to 12 countries where Pentecostalism is prominent as well as many parts of the United States. Her methodology involves an immersion into the worship and life of the various and very different Pentecostal/charismatic churches she investigates. She also seems to have an ability to contact and win the confidence of the leaders she interviews. Yet she keeps a certain critical distance from the topic by the fact she is not a born-again believer – despite the many attempts by her Pentecostal friends and contacts to make her so. Hardy’s descriptions of the various forms of Spirit-filled congregations are an encouragement that the Holy Spirit revival begun at Azusa Street has not been stymied despite local scandals and setbacks – which Hardy often details.

Beyond Belief is divided into two parts. Part 1 is entitled “The Good News: The Unstoppable Rise of Pentecostalism.” The title gives the book’s central thesis, Spirit-filled Churches are growing and will be the future of the Church at large. Part 2 is called “Spiritual Warfare: The battle to build heaven on earth.” This Part explores the author’s fear that Spirit-filled churches will attempt to establish forms of theocratic rule over the Earth.

As a historian, I found chapter one, which deals with the origins of Pentecostalism, especially interesting in its interpretation. Hardy gives special credit to Aimee Semple McPherson as the person who brought Pentecostalism to wide public attention, if not acceptance. She understands McPhearson as a proto-charismatic and proto-Televangelist through her pioneering use of radio evangelism and relief work for the poor.

Chapter 4, entitled “The Father, the Sons, and the Holy Mess,” deals with the Pentecostal movement in Brazil which is overtaking Catholicism as the majority religion in that country. Brazil now has a bevy of megachurches with Pentecostal pastors who mostly preach an exaggerated “prosperity Gospel” and live lavishly. The author makes much of this seeming contradiction, unaware that there can be moderate and biblical expressions of prosperity teaching, such as was developed by Puritan theologians in the 18^th Century.[1] Significantly, Hardy also admits that the prosperity Gospel motivates the poor to be honest and work hard and ultimately helps elevate them out of poverty. Also, Pentecostalism has become a major factor in the lives of Brazil’s lower classes, as opposed to the Catholic Church which was predominantly a middle- and upper-class church with “outreach” to the poor, not centered on their transformation out of poverty. She summarizes, “…research has found that people who come from poverty or cycles of violence and addiction have more chances of escaping that world if they joined an evangelical [Pentecostal] church …” (p. 90).

Chapter 5, “The Bigger the Prophecy the Bigger the Pocket,” covers how strong Pentecostalism has become in sub-Saharan Africa. Like the churches in Brazil, there are many “prosperity Gospel” megachurches in Africa for the same reasons—they help the poor come out of poverty. But to a greater degree than Brazil’s Pentecostal churches, the ones in Africa can manifest dangerous levels of syncretism, that is, incorporating animist and pagan elements of belief and practice into their churches. For instance, the role of the “prophet” is highly esteemed in Africa and this office is often blended with unscriptural elements, such as ongoing communications with dead ancestors. All of this raises interesting questions on how far the Gospel can accommodate to culture, before it becomes “another Gospel” (see Gal 1:6).

Chapter 6 entitled, “Did you Know About the Good Samaritan,” is about Pentecostalism in the UK. This is an inspiring account of how the Gypsies (Roma people) in the UK and Europe have been rapidly and successfully evangelized into Pentecostal churches. The Gypsies have been transformed into hardworking and stable populations and are now often accepted members of European communities where they were formally despised and rarely evangelized.

Part 2 of the book develops Hardy’s view of spiritual warfare. Unlike most readers of The Pneuma Review, her concern and focus is not on the theology or practice of battling the “principalities and powers.” Rather she is focused on the trend that the theology of spiritual warfare, especially the concept of “occupying” the seven mountains of human culture, education, government, medicine, entertainment, etc. is an attempt to usher us to some sort of theocratic state.

This section begins with chapter 7, “A Company Town.” This is the study of Redding, California, which is the home of Bethel Chapel, one of the largest megachurches in America. The church has achieved a great amount of influence in Redding, to the point that people must be careful of what they say and to whom they say it. Hardy also faults an overenthusiastic Christian healing ministry in Redding, were volunteer laypersons at times barge into medical facilities uninvited (Personally, I would rather have to deal with that problem, which is easy to fix, than with the problem of not having enough volunteers to minister at hospitals). Hardy’s complaints in this case seems exaggerated and trivial.

Chapter 8 is entitled, “Fully cursed and abundantly blessed.” In a fascinating section, it describes an Islamic denomination that has adopted many Pentecostal practices, such as tithing, ecstatic states of worship, and a modified Islamic prosperity gospel. The denomination goes under the acronym NASAFAT and has many branches in West Africa and the US. This chapter then turns to the Church in Nigeria, where it is flourishing. Many churches are extremely influential in Nigeria and provide all sorts of services including dating for singles, Christian schools, etc. to a degree not known in the United States.

A point of sadness. Hardy notes that friction between Christians and Muslims are high in Nigeria and believes that Nigeria may be very close to civil war. She believes a major contributing factor is the Christian spiritual warfare ideology of the “seven mountains” which attempt to control the nation (p. 190). Hardy claims that many Nigerian pastors are ex-Muslims, and rather than having great compassion for Muslims, generally act with discourtesy and nastiness towards them.

“Not your grandmother’s church,” is the title of chapter 9. The main point here is that Christians in the United States have sometimes gone overboard in combating sex trafficking by prosecuting the easy target, the soliciting “Johns.” At times their lives are ruined with felony convictions and embarrassing publicity. Hardy claims that Christian ministers often use the popularity of this type of ministry to enhance their church’s standing while avoiding the very serious issue of the semi-slavery of many Asian immigrants in nail polishing shops, dishwashers, etc. All of this is related to the attempt to prove that Pentecostals are molding secular power and laws for their seven mountain campaigns without much discernment. I found this chapter unconvincing and the least satisfactory of the book.

To the contrary, the new Pentecostal pastors and lay leaders are intolerant of shamans and their practices. Unfortunately, as Pentecostals increase in numbers and political power, this can lead to mob action, violence and even murder. Hardy amply documents this and shows a similar pattern in Brazil. Certainly, those actions are wrong, unbiblical, and sinful. Again, the author relates these actions to seven mountain theology.

Hardy assumes that the traditional Catholic approach is the correct one. I believe her position is erroneous and spiritually destructive as it leaves the demonic activity and its realms unchallenged. Part of her confusion is that her immersion style reporting opened her to demonic influences. She recounts how after an interview with a Mayan shaman: “We lit candles from a small flame pit and prayed to each of the four energies as we turned in each direction. Ramulu [the shaman] gave Mother Nature an offering of palm tree and asked for her blessings” (p. 218).

The proper New Testament response to witchcraft and shamanism is outlined in Acts 13: 8-12, where Paul disables a sorcerer, but does not permanently harm him. Tragically this has not been appropriated by Christians as something possible in the post-Apostolic age, so this effective tool has been used only infrequently in Church history.[2]

Hardy links the negative and hostile actions of Pentecostals towards non-Christians to dominion theology, which is perhaps an overreach, as that type of theological sophistication is unlikely in the Mayan areas. Also, there is problem in that she doesn’t really understand the demonic dangers and energies of shamanistic worship and objects.

Chapter 11 is entitled, “We ain’t going round that mountain another seven years.” This deals with the fact that many Pentecostal congregation are gravitating to right-wing and populist, identity politics. She finds this especially dangerous for the future of Christian witness and the Church universal. Only time will tell whether her fears are prophecy or hysteria.

In summary, Beyond Belief is an extremely informative, but flawed book, full of eye-popping accounts of congregations in all parts of the world doing church enthusiastically, if not always with true discernment.

Reviewed by William De Arteaga

Publisher’s page: www.HurstPublishers.com/book/beyond-belief/

Notes

[1] On this issue see my book Quenching the Spirit (Lake Mary: Creation House, 1996), chapter 15. [Editor’s note: see the review by Mike Dies]

[2] See my essay, “The Ministry of command Disablement,’ in: William De Arteaga, Battling the Demonic (2023). [Editor’s note: see the review by Anders Litzell]

In Battling the Demonic, prolific writer and chronicler of the moves of the Holy Spirit in the Western world, the Rev’d William L. De Arteaga PhD, has collected a series of essays on a selection of developments in theory and practise surrounding demonology in, roughly, the last century – and also an interpretative effort to discern some larger moves of society, culture and the spirits that influence our time.

De Arteaga introduces the reader to the subject with an essay that reads as a recollection of a yearning, almost a lament, of unfulfilled longing in his youth for something eternal and true. He quickly paints the theological landscape of 20^th century North America with broad brush strokes and explains how arguments raged among dominant voices in theology about whether the Scriptural miracle accounts were indeed factual, but that the proponents of the trustworthiness of Scripture, were almost exclusively cessationist. While this is in many ways an especially North American phenomenon, this is the context of these essays and it understandably resurfaces in many of the essays – alongside the humanistic and naturalistic assumptions of liberal theologians.

De Arteaga continues to insightfully note that there is something true and under-developed in our thought on spiritual inheritance; and the relation of the earthly saints (us) with the saints in the Lord’s Glory. The enemy sometimes uses this to sow delusions, but we would do well to seek the Lord’s wisdom to discover this inheritance. It seems to this reviewer, that some of the recent works on Impartation by Randy Clark (D.Min.), about the sharing and passing on of spiritual gifts such as by the laying on of hands, may be fruitfully expanded into the Communion of Saints. De Arteaga will return to the interplay between time and eternity, and the thin veil of death, in the latter essays in this collection.

De Arteaga offers a concise and helpful overview of the omissions of Christian churches over the last century regarding demonological awareness. This overview could have been strengthened by noting the occasional abuses and excesses that have driven many to prefer getting stuck in the proverbial omission ditch on the one side of the Way of Christ as the safer option instead of risking falling into the excess ditch on the other side.

This reviewer particularly appreciates De Arteaga’s honest wrestling with the place of deliverance ministry in the public space or without “proper” preparations (or authorization in some ecclesial contexts). De Arteaga tempers his desire for orderly ministry with the witness of Scripture where encounters with unclean spirits are rarely if ever taking place with any forewarning.

Looking to stock the Christian’s pro-active arsenal, De Arteaga examines St Paul’s encounter with Elymas Bar-Jesus in Acts 13 and explores how similar actions, what he calls “command disablement,” might be beneficial in encountering those under demonic influence. He notes this is a largely unexplored territory of Christian ministry. In addition to De Arteaga’ examples, it is worth remembering how Jesus, when encountering people with evil spirits in Luke 4:41, “would not allow them to speak”. This reviewer also calls to mind a testimony of “command disablement” in self-defence recorded by Rabi R. Maharaj in his autobiography, Death of a Guru (Harvest House, 1977), which led to exorcism and salvation of a young man called Raymond. De Arteaga concludes this section of the book with a selection of hypothetical scenarios. He hopes to prompt the reader to imagine, with the Holy Spirit, how to exercise the authority of the believer, seated with Christ at the Father’s right hand. This is a topic that will recur in a later chapter as well, as De Arteaga purposefully seeks to imagine what is possible with Christ.

The second part of the book deals with a number of historical case studies. The chapters do not form a linear read, which is understandable for an anthology. The first reads as a socio-political commentary, highlighting themes in history that De Arteaga interprets as demonically influenced.

The main locus where De Arteaga analyses demonic influences in Western culture is in Marxist and associated ideologies. Considering that De Arteaga has previously written a on political influences in his America in Danger, Left and Right, this reviewer wishes that De Arteaga had included some analyses from other ends of the spectrum of public life, to reduce the risk of the reader disregarding this important work as partisan.

De Arteaga continues with a series of illustrative treatises of spiritual engagement and the response of Western society – from missionary experiences of oppressive demonic forces to the deceptions of various occult practices. The theme that emerges is of overt enemy actions overseas, and covert in the West.

If memory serves, it was C.S. Lewis who in his Screwtape Letters imagined that the enemy actively promotes the modern materialist lie that personal evil spirits do not exist, as it allows the enemy much latitude to operate undetected. This reviewer would like to add a complementary lie, which is more commonly found in the global South: that personal spiritual beings are powerful, worthy of fear and/or reverence, usually (though not always) malicious and while they might be appeased or bargained with, they certainly cannot be opposed by normal people. This is a belief that can also be found in the West among occultists, and in some cultural/ethnic subgroups and opens the door to much more overt oppression and intimidation by the forces of darkness. This difference in strategy by the enemy, and in cultural expectations, can explain the appearance of more active demonic activity outside of the West; which this reviewer believes to be a false appearance.

This is a very worthwhile call, and this reviewer recalls that the Greek word for the Latin “Discernment” is “Diagnosis”. De Arteaga does not shy away from complex or hot-button issues like schizophrenia, transgender desires and even childhood psychopathy. He repeatedly asks questions about the source of these phenomena, prompting the reader to examine the fruit from every available angle – be it medical, philosophical or theological. De Arteaga clearly holds the medical profession in considerable regard, while noting that they are often called to answer challenges beyond their scope.

The final essay in the third section covers proactive prevention of, and reversal of, demonic afflictions or influence of our little ones. This topic, with its generation-spanning reach, leads into the fourth and final part of the book, which is the most difficult to digest, at least for this reviewer.

The first essay considers the possibility of more than two outcomes (heaven or hell) as we leave this earthly life – and De Arteaga rightly pokes a hole in the common equation of Hades/Sheol/the dwelling of the dead with Hell/the Second Death of Revelation 20-21. This is an elusive subject considering the scarcity of Scriptural witness, which De Arteaga notes with many Scriptural commentators, and then continues to explore possibilities from history and Scripture as they open up venues for ministry. Remaining essays continue to provoke to thought, and re-examination of our inherited worldview to ask just how much of it is less-than-fully supported by Scripture.

Reflecting on the final essays, the immediate state of the departed is not consistently attested to in Scripture – and where God leaves a gap, or ambiguity, in His revelation, we do well to tread with both humility and curiosity. This reviewer is not even sure how to use our temporal language of “after” death and “before” Christ’s return, since there is nothing in Scripture to say we will experience the passing of time in the way we currently do, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil. However, Christ’s words when speaking of the departed, about how God is a God not of the dead but of the living; coupled with the promise that God will answer prayers before we utter them, leaves plenty of scope for imagining our ministering the Reconciliation of Christ to generations both past and future, in order to see His glory manifest yesterday, today and forever.

In conclusion, I commend this book to any student of Jesus’ continuing ministry on earth, who is willing to challenge both their own inherited certainties and the pseudo-canons that we all have inherited through our secular and ecclesial cultures alike. It is unlikely that any reader will unflinchingly embrace every aspect of this collection of essays. Yet, let us embrace that paramount call of this book: the cultivation of discernment – both discerning the spirits we find speaking to us, and discerning the ones we see around us. Armed with that intention, we can read this book and hear what the Holy Spirit is saying herein to the churches.

Reviewed by S. Anders Litzell

“John A. MacMillan’s Teaching Regarding the Authority of the Believer and its Impact on the Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Charismatic Movements” by Paul L. King 

Most people associate teaching on the authority of the believer from a charismatic source, usually Kenneth Hagin or Kenneth Copeland. Some evangelicals, such as Hank Hanegraaff and John MacArthur tend to regard exercise of the believer’s authority, especially binding and loosing, as an excessive teaching of the charismatic movement.¹ However, the original source of teaching on this vital doctrine comes not from the charismatic or Pentecostal movements, but from John A. MacMillan, a former Presbyterian layman who became a missionary, writer, editor, and professor, and from and his classic holiness roots in the Higher Life and Keswick movements. My doctoral dissertation presented a case study of the life, ministry, and impact of John MacMillan, particularly as it relates to the authority of the believer and spiritual warfare.² This paper is a distillation of that dissertation.

Introducing John A. MacMillan

John MacMillan (1873-1956) was a Canadian Presbyterian businessman who became actively involved with ministry to Chinese and Jewish people in Toronto.³ At the age of 41 he married Isabel Robson, who had been a missionary to China with China Inland Mission from 1895 to1906 and a personal nurse to J. Hudson Taylor. Ordained in 1923 at the age of 49, MacMillan and his wife went to China as missionaries with The Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). He then became field director of the floundering C&MA mission work in the Philippines. Following the death of his first wife in 1928, he returned to North America to do pastoral and itinerant ministry. Subsequently, he became Associate Editor of The Alliance Weekly magazine, a member of the Board of Managers of The Christian and Missionary Alliance, and a professor at Missionary Training Institute in Nyack, New York, now known as Nyack College. In 1932 after nine years of many dramatic experiences with spiritual warfare, he wrote a series of articles in The Alliance Weekly, the periodical of The Christian and Missionary Alliance, entitled “The Authority of the Believer.”⁴ Eventually they were published in book form, distributed widely and also republished in other periodicals. MacMillan had a remarkable and extensive ministry in the exercise of the authority of the believer and spiritual warfare spanning more than thirty years.

MacMillan’s Exercise of the Authority of the Believer

John MacMillan’s practice of the authority of the believer began when as a businessman, he was informed that the house next to his house caught on fire. Calmly, “he committed the crisis to God in prayer, claiming divine protection according to Psalm 91:10 that ‘no destruction would befall the house.'” He drove home to find out that the fire had miraculously stopped at a wooden fence that separated the two houses.⁵

MacMillan turned his business over to another man when he left for the mission field, designating a portion of the profits to go to his missionary support, but the man reneged on his contract, failing to forward the funds. Speaking with the believer’s authority, MacMillan prophesied, “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.” Eventually the business went bankrupt. So through MacMillan’s application of the believer’s authority, he was vindicated and the dishonest contract-breakers suffered the judgment of God.⁶

On the mission field in China an Asiatic cholera epidemic threatened the mission. MacMillan again confessed Psalm 91:3, “Surely he will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence.” He prayed, “May we be enabled to keep the Home ‘in the secret place of the Most High and under the shadow of the Almighty.'” They emerged victorious and received divine protection from the plague. ⁷

MacMillan told of how Christian and Missionary Alliance missionaries would claim land from demonic control in China and bind the powers of darkness. On a certain occasion, the missionaries took possession of a piece of land and began moving logs. Evil spirits resisted the takeover by projecting a supernatural voice from a log. The voice in the log threatened, “Don’t you dare move it!” The missionaries were not taken aback, but rebuked the voice. They then removed the log without any further incident and gained the victory over the dark powers.⁸ MacMillan’s most dramatic illustration of exercising the authority of binding and loosing occurred in 1924 when several missionaries were kidnapped. As MacMillan and the remaining missionaries exercised the believer’s authority of binding and loosing, the missionaries were released without harm.⁹

John MacMillan’s exercise of the authority of the believer and engagement with the powers of darkness increased during his ministry in the Philippines. He exercised authority over nature, binding the Enemy as a tree fell toward him and the mission buildings. As a result, the tree fell between the buildings, causing no harm to the buildings or himself. MacMillan perceived in this startling occurrence of divine protection a spiritual message from the Lord, “The way out is blocked—is it not a gracious call to prayer, lest the great adversary block our efforts and shut us up in a small place? We have prayed for the binding of the strongman—we must watch and pray that the strong man does not bind us.”¹⁰ As he took authority over tobacco addictions, many people were set free and in one district in the Philippines, all the believers stopped growing tobacco.¹¹

Another remarkable and dramatic demonstration of MacMillan’s authority as a believer resulted in miraculous healing of his broken leg. Retired pastor Otto Bublat recalls that MacMillan described the incident years later in a class at the Missionary Training Institute: “Once on an emergency mission trip where he was alone on the rainy slippery trail, he slipped and broke his ankle. … His only recourse was the Lord since he was alone and about twenty miles from even a first aid station. In simple faith, he stepped out and began walking those many miles. He got home safely, and shortly thereafter had the ankle X-rayed. There had been a clean break, but it was perfectly healed.”¹²