The Original Day of Pentecost United; Present-Day Responses to Pentecost Divide

As I considered options for Pentecost Sunday here on the blog, I re-discovered this article from 2013. I don’t usually repeat the non-original items which have appeared here, but the idea of doing that with this kept gaining traction in my mind…

A Prominent Pentecostal Responds to John MacArthur

J. Lee Grady (pictured below) epitomizes, for me at least, the phrase “balanced Charismatic.”  Here’s the opening to his article, To My Fundamentalist Brother John MacArthur: Grace to You Too

Fundamentalist pastor John MacArthur is a gifted preacher, author and lover of Scripture. His Grace to You radio program points countless people to the Bible, and his Master’s Seminary trains hundreds of ministry leaders. He’s a staunch Calvinist, but that doesn’t make him any less my brother in Christ.

Unfortunately, MacArthur can’t say the same about me—and that’s sad. In his new book Strange Fire, he declares in no uncertain terms that anyone who embraces any form of charismatic or Pentecostal theology does not worship the true God.

My brother in Christ has written me off.

In John MacArthur’s rigid world, anybody who has sought prayer for healing, claimed a miracle, received a prayer language, prophesied, sensed God speaking to them, felt God’s presence in an emotional way or fallen down on the floor after receiving prayer has already stepped out of the bounds of orthodoxy.

MacArthur says charismatics think they worship God but that actually we are worshipping a golden calf. “Every day millions of charismatics offer praise to a patently false image of the  Holy Spirit,” MacArthur says early in the book. “No other movement has done more damage to the cause of the gospel.”

He doesn’t just write off fringe elements of our movement; he skewers the original founders of Pentecostalism and even goes after Baptist author Henry Blackaby for teaching that God can speak to people today.

MacArthur, who is 74, urges evangelical Christians to engage in a “collective war” to stop the spread of the charismatic movement, which he describes as a “deadly virus,” a “deviant mutation of the truth” and a “Trojan horse” that has infiltrated mainstream Christianity…

…Continue reading here…

Perhaps we can paraphrase MacArthur’s statement — quoted in the 5th paragraph above — and say that, “No other individual has caused more potential for dividing the Body of Christ in 2013 than John MacArthur.”

Wednesday Link List

If your work week runs Monday to Friday, by noon on Wednesday you’re ‘over the hump,’ but the Baptist in me still blushes when someone says, “Happy Hump Day!”  With that, I think we’d better quickly move on to the links which you’ll find at Out of Ur.

• You can’t walk the hallways of the Christian internet without running into Calvinists, but Lutherans are stronger numerically. So why don’t Lutherans have greater influence?
• Atheists may not believe, but they want to belong. More accurately, they want to help serve.
• With the Duck Dynasty people entering into a licensing deal with a winemaker, it’s no surprise that Free Will Baptist Family Ministries cancelled an upcoming appearance by Willie Robertson to raise funds for a Christian school building project.
• Quote of the Week: John Piper — “…we really need to keep in mind that every charismatic abuse has its mirror image in non-charismatic abuses. Nothing I am going to say is unique to charismatics. In some of these cases, the non-charismatic church is more guilty than the charismatic.” Read more.
• While Pope Francis has changed the style of the papacy, it is creating ripple effects that are changing the style of American bishops.
• So who exactly set the guest list and invited “the Tea Party Power Players” to Billy Graham’s birthday bash?
• In light of decreased attendance and giving, James MacDonald has taken a 20% pay cut. One writer says that this seems noble, but looks at the Harvest Bible Chapel founder’s larger financial situation.
• A world away, Filipinos worship in churches ravaged by wind and rain.
• “The Mormon church was already one of Florida’s largest landowners. For more than 60 years, the church has owned … a 290,000 cattle, and citrus operation straddling three counties south of Orlando.” Now they’re going into the forestry business.
• Raising kids while serving on a foreign mission field is full of challenges, and singing, “This world is not my home, I’m just passin’ through;” is probably not very helpful.
• With the current interest in Christian feminism, is there room for complementarians?  A serious discussion followed.
• Author Rachel Held Evans doesn’t want to be divisive. Nor does she want to be silent.
• A Canadian priest is facing 76 sexual abuse charges involving dozens of victims dating back to the 1970s in Canada’s far north.
• The Church of England, says a former Archbishop of Canterbury, is one generation away from extinction.
• You’re not that busy, or you wouldn’t be reading this. So it’s time to play Bible Jeopardy. (What is, “Don’t tell my senior pastor my score?”)
• If this is true I’m in trouble: What your sleep patterns say about your personal theology.
• Essay of the Week: At Aljazeera America (of all places) an exhaustive article on how sexual assaults are handled at Bob Jones University.
• Same sex attraction: Vimeo removed this pro-change 32 minute video, then it was put on YouTube. Let’s see if it’s still there by the time you read this…
• …Meanwhile a Methodist pastor in Pennsylvania faces defrocking after presiding over his son’s same-sex marriage.
• With nearly 200 comments, you’d expect some of the answers to the oft-asked question, “What is the gospel?” But maybe different answers when it’s Marcus Borg doing the asking.
• With the anniversary of C. S. Lewis’ death just days away, some still-applicable quotations.
• Nadia Bolz-Weber’s sermon — in her church a 10-12 minute homily — for All Saints Sunday included a “saint” from her own local congregation. (Click the link to listen as you read.)
• Add another Bible narrative to the scrap heap of stories that never happened, as this blogger categorically dismisses the story of Jonah.
• Break out the Petra and Daniel Amos albums; it’s a campaign to bring back the print edition of CCM Magazine…
• …and here’s one Christian artist’s best kept secret. What if there had been a girl in The Beach Boys?
• Finally, in our Christian music link trilogy, a story you can’t live without: Singer Mandisa is launching Simply Mandisa, a line of clothing and accessories, ’cause that’s what you do next, right?
• The Creation and Earth Museum in San Diego has been denied a place on the local museum council.
• Was a bus driver at Rutgers University fired for not properly securing a wheelchair, or does it have more to do with his praying for a passenger in a wheelchair?
• While I wouldn’t want to be able to put a check-mark next to #5 on my first visit, here’s one writer’s seven things to look for in a church.
• Your teaser title for this week: Eldering and Economics.
• Regular viewing of R-rated movies can have a negative impact on faith; at the same time as some church-produced films are being rated R.
• Question of the Week: How many gamers will skip church to spend more time on their new Play Station 4?
• Here’s what happens when a PhD in Theology takes seriously the idea of a Mark Driscoll Scholarship for Women Pastors.
• Jamie The Very Worst Hugger admits that when it comes to wrapping your arms around someone, she does not have that particular spiritual gift.
• A UK Church blog offers you the opportunity to calculate your social media influence rating.
• Well, we could keep going all day here, but I see by the clock on the clubhouse wall that it’s time to go. If Christmas is leaving you without ideas, here’s a can’t miss suggestion for that special person in your life, also pictured below.

The Wednesday Link List is written by Paul Wilkinson who blogs the rest of the week at Thinking Out Loud and Christianity 201.  Professional stunt blogger. Do not attempt at home. Offer not valid in Wisconsin or Hawaii.

A Prominent Pentecostal Responds to John MacArthur

J. Lee Grady (pictured below) epitomizes, for me at least, the phrase “balanced Charismatic.”  Here’s the opening to his article, To My Fundamentalist Brother John MacArthur: Grace to You Too

Fundamentalist pastor John MacArthur is a gifted preacher, author and lover of Scripture. His Grace to You radio program points countless people to the Bible, and his Master’s Seminary trains hundreds of ministry leaders. He’s a staunch Calvinist, but that doesn’t make him any less my brother in Christ.

Unfortunately, MacArthur can’t say the same about me—and that’s sad. In his new book Strange Fire, he declares in no uncertain terms that anyone who embraces any form of charismatic or Pentecostal theology does not worship the true God.

My brother in Christ has written me off.

In John MacArthur’s rigid world, anybody who has sought prayer for healing, claimed a miracle, received a prayer language, prophesied, sensed God speaking to them, felt God’s presence in an emotional way or fallen down on the floor after receiving prayer has already stepped out of the bounds of orthodoxy.

MacArthur says charismatics think they worship God but that actually we are worshipping a golden calf. “Every day millions of charismatics offer praise to a patently false image of the  Holy Spirit,” MacArthur says early in the book. “No other movement has done more damage to the cause of the gospel.”

He doesn’t just write off fringe elements of our movement; he skewers the original founders of Pentecostalism and even goes after Baptist author Henry Blackaby for teaching that God can speak to people today.

MacArthur, who is 74, urges evangelical Christians to engage in a “collective war” to stop the spread of the charismatic movement, which he describes as a “deadly virus,” a “deviant mutation of the truth” and a “Trojan horse” that has infiltrated mainstream Christianity…

…Continue reading here…

Perhaps we can paraphrase MacArthur’s statement and say that, “No other individual has caused more potential for dividing the Body of Christ in 2013 than John MacArthur.”

Wednesday Link List

Not many weird religious news stories this week; try to do something stupid over the next few days, okay?  This is a link list without links. To see them click over to Out of Ur. As for the above graphic, you need to listen to Phil Vischer Podcast…

• According to a CNN story, the head of Christian Copyright Licensing Inc. claims that Chris Tomlin is the most prolific songwriter in the United States right now.
• Personally, I thought my alternative ending to John MacArthur’s Strange Fire Conference would have been an interesting touch…
• …but of course, truth is always stranger than fiction.  While I first read about Mark Driscoll crashing the party, I’d not heard James MacDonald’s name mentioned until this.
• Two pieces on the subject of porn: Eric Simmons at Desiring God with I Hate Porn, and Tim Challies offering some preventative measures with The Porn-Free Family.
• Did you see marathon swimmer Diana Nyad talking to Oprah? Is it possible to be an atheist and still be “in awe?”
• Short Essay of the Week: What if modern technology permitted Biblical education to take place individually, and the place we gather weekly was for interaction, coaching, personal support and prayer? Be sure to read David Morrow’s The Flipped Church.
• Medium Essay of the Week: Dancing as “keeping in step with the Spirit;” a metaphor for a life of faith, unless of course you believe that, “the praying knee can’t belong to a dancing leg.”
• A Minnesota Pastor takes 20% of the revenue from a land deal and creates entrepreneurial opportunities for young people. Read the original CT article and this response (with video).
• Most Provocative Title: From Catholic writer Tony Agnesi, are you Living Your Resumé or Your Eulogy?
• Starting Over: For Jon Acuff, this particular blog represents Day Zero.
• Academic Article of the Week: We all know what the gospel is, but if you’re studying alternative texts, what exactly is a gospel?
• …and aggregate the Tweets of some well-known Christian academics, and you might find yourself reading Bible Gateway Bible Profs News.
• Kid Min Corner: Unlike many children’s DVD series, Phil Vischer didn’t stop at the end of Acts. So what themes from Paul’s letters did he feel were worthy of inclusion in a kids video?
• Youth Ministry Corner: Apparently some parents would rather just write a check to pay for missions trips, and the kids don’t want to do fundraising, either.
• Know any Aspies? That’s a term for people with Asperger’s Syndrome; people for whom the church can feel like an alien place.
• The blog Sliced Soup found this 18-month old guide to Hebrew pronunciation of YHWH, but as it turns out the video channel it’s from is a goldmine of instruction in Ancient Hebrew.
• What should worship leaders do when the keyboardist who wants to join the team is a classically-trained pianist.
• Pastors: If that illustration you’re using is actually debunked on Snopes.com, look out! Turns out Millennials like to fact-check sermons.
• Video(s) of the Week: Two beautiful acapella song covers on YouTube by David Wesley — One Thing Remains and the more recently posted (last week) How Deep the Father’s Love.
• People You Should Know: Another edition of the Young Influencers List.
• Charlotte Church is now 27, but she knows the pressure put on young music stars to be hyper-sexualized.
• Questions about the film’s ending has caused tension for the March, 2014 movie based on the life of Noah.
• Music Flashback: From our Lost Songs collection, the worship of Calvary Chapel Downey, with the hauntingly beautiful song To be Like You.
• Denominational stereotypes? Christianity Today answers the question, ‘Why are Google searches so much fun?’
• Finally, if you’re going to steal stuff from a church, don’t try to flog it at a yard sale only a few streets away.

Link list curator Paul Wilkinson blogs at Christianity 201 and Thinking Out Loud, the latter of which still sports its original look and theme, an actual functioning blogroll that is updated regularly, and a merry-go-round that still operates. (Not that last thing…)

Main branch of the Kansas City Public Library.

Holy Spirit Falls on Strange Fire Conference

The following report is unconfirmed.

Minutes before the end of John MacArthur’s Strange Fire Conference, with attendees all together in the convention hall, suddenly there was a sound like the rush of a giant wind, which filled the entire auditorium where they were seated. People reported seeing flashes of fire that subdivided and landed on each person. Everyone was filled with the Holy Spirit, and began speaking in other languages as the Spirit empowered them.

Conference delegates included people from other nations who were baffled by the sound of their mother tongues being spoken. Amazed, they asked, ‘Aren’t all these people Americans? How then are we hearing them in the national languages of our countries?’ Confused, they started saying, ‘What the heck is going on?’

Some, however said perhaps after three days of this, some of them had a few drinks during the Friday supper break.

Then John MacArthur stood up and went to the microphone and addressed the crowd.

“Well,” he said; “This is ironic.”

Thinking Out Loud is looking for readers who can corroborate this story.