Part 1 of 6: Pentecostalism … Charismatic Confusion in Evangelism

Part 1 of 6: Pentecostalism … Charismatic Confusion in Evangelism

David Cloud, Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061
866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org

This report was first published in O Timothy magazine, Volume 7, Issue 8-9, 1990 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org😉 –

An Eye-Witness Report on the North American Congress on the Holy Spirit & World Evangelization August 1990, Indianapolis, Indiana
By David W. Cloud

Because of its claims and its amazing growth, the Pentecostal-charismatic movement cannot be ignored. It claims to be THE Holy Spirit movement of this century. Thus, anyone who cares about having the fullness of God is compelled to examine it. Is the charismatic experience the door into God’s richest blessing and power? It claims to be.

Consider, too, the growth. At the turn of this century there were no Pentecostals in the world. Zero. Even 50 years ago Pentecostalism was a very minor part of Christendom. But things are different now! The ten largest churches in the world are charismatic. The only church in the world which claims over 500,000 members is charismatic. The charismatic movement is probably the fastest growing movement which names the name of Christ. The charismatic movement dominates the Christian media in the West, permeates such influential organizations as the Christian Booksellers of America and the Christian Broadcasting Association, and controls much of the Christian television and radio transmission. Some of the largest mission groups are charismatic. Youth With a Mission, with its 21,000 workers (counting short-termers), is an example. The charismatic movement influences society at every strata, from the businessmen to the poorest of the poor in third world nations.

Statistician David Howard claims that 372 million Christians–one in every five–identifies with the Pentecostal-charismatic movement (Press Release, Indianapolis ’90, August 16, 1990). He claims that charismatics are growing by 54,000 per day, and that 80% of all conversions are charismatic. These statistics are doubtful, but there can be no doubt that it is a massive movement. Because of this we have examined the charismatic movement carefully.

New Orleans ’87

In 1987 I had the opportunity to attend New Orleans ’87, probably the largest charismatic meeting in North America in the last decade. It had been 15 years since I had been saved and had first looked at the charismatic issue. I was aware that great things were being claimed, that the movement was experiencing fantastic growth, that it was more ecumenical than ever. In our missionary work in South Asia since 1979, we had learned firsthand of its great worldwide influence. I wanted to attend the New Orleans meeting in order to see for myself what was happening, and the Lord provided press credentials and opened the door.
In spite of the fact that I had followed the charismatic- ecumenical movement carefully over the years, the New Orleans meeting was still a real eye opener.

It was a real eye opener to see the roughly 20,000 Catholics in attendance in New Orleans, to see the Roman mass performed every morning. It was a real eye opener to see and hear hundreds of the most popular charismatic leaders. It was a real eye opener to see strange things such as “Spirit slaying,” to hear thousands of people speaking in “tongues” at one time, to be blasted with “Christian” rock and other jazzy types of music. I had seen and heard all these things before, but not on such a grand scale.

New Orleans ’87 was definitely an eye opener! I was deeply impressed with the urgency of warning God’s people of the confusion and duplicity I had witnessed.

The major goal of the New Orleans meeting was ecumenical evangelism: all the church to evangelize all the world by the year 2000. “The ultimate goal of these Congresses is to be able to present to Jesus Christ an absolute majority of the world’s population as Christians on his 2,000th birthday”(Evangelize the World Now!, Indianapolis 1990 Congress Program Book, p. 42). The Catholic Evangelization 2000 program was also launched in 1987, and it is significant that Evangelization 2000’s leader, Priest Tom Forrest, delivered the closing address at New Orleans.

Because of this goal and the aggressive plans being set in motion to accomplish it, the charismatic movement with its many errors is going to be even more aggressive in the coming days. It is therefore even more imperative than ever that a warning be sounded.

Indianapolis ’90

When the latest in this series of congresses was announced for Indianapolis, August 1990, I determined to obtain press credentials and to give an up-to-date report. Churches must be provided with factual information about the changing face of Pentecostalism. The charismatic spirit is not passive, but is very active, and very few Christians are escaping the influence of its siren call. The Bible describes error as winds which blow and carry about those who are deceived thereby (Eph. 4:14). The charismatic winds are blowing with gale force strength.

The official title of the meeting was The Indianapolis Congress on the Holy Spirit and World Evangelization. It was sponsored by the same organization which sponsored New Orleans ’87–the North American Renewal Service Committee. Total registrations numbered roughly 25,000. Forty-eight percent of those in attendance were Roman Catholic. Ten percent were non-denominational, nine percent Episcopal, and eight percent Pentecostal. Forty denominations and organizations were involved in the congress, and fifty nations were represented among the participants. Roughly 200 speakers were involved in the congress, and there were more than 150 exhibitors. Though smaller than New Orleans ’87, the Indianapolis meeting was still very large and influential.

The conference theme was “Evangelize the World Now!” In his welcome to the Congress, Chairman Vinson Synan stated that the desire and aim of the meeting was to “inaugurate a decade of world evangelization during the 1990s.” He said, “We believe that a mighty worldwide renewal and revival in the churches will make the 1990s the greatest decade of evangelization in the history of the church.”

With these facts before us, the stage is set for our report. Following is what I saw at Indianapolis.

First, let me say that I was challenged by some things at this conference. The problem is that the things which could be good in the charismatic movement are spoiled by doctrinal error and imbalance, ecumenical confusion, and widespread duplicity and sham.

I believe the charismatic movement is the devil’s wildfire answer to the spiritual dearth found in so frightfully many churches. Many people are drawn to the charismatic movement by such things as their enthusiasm for worship and prayer, their boldness, their wholesomeness of life, their seeming love for Jesus and for the power and blessing of God. All of these were evident in Indianapolis. Too bad we can’t stop there. Too bad the charismatic movement is not content with the true things of the Word of God. But it isn’t. Instead, we have confusion. We have truth mixed with error.

CONFUSION ABOUT UNITY

One of the major themes of New Orleans ’87 and Indianapolis ’90 was “unity.” Congress chairman Vinson Synan, in his message the opening night of the conference, sounded this keynote:

“And, finally, this is a congress on unity. For the first time we all came together from these streams [Catholic, Protestant, Non-denominational, Pentecostal] in 1977 in Kansas City, in Arrowhead stadium. Back there Kevin Ranahan [Roman Catholic] was chairman. … Then five years ago the Lord spoke to us to begin the North American Renewal Service Committee. In 1986 and 1987 we held conferences in the Superdome in New Orleans. … The Lord brought us together in unity. And we are trying to answer the prayer of Jesus in John 17:21 when he prayed that we would all be one as he and the Father are one so that the world would believe that you have sent me. … I believe tonight the Lord is bringing all these flames from the Baptists, and the Methodists, and the Catholics, and the Presbyterians, and we at Indianapolis are going to merge those flames into one mighty flame for the Lord. …

“No one of us can do this job all by ourselves. … As Spirit-filled as the Pentecostals may be, they can’t do the job alone. As organized as the Methodists may be, they can’t do the job alone. As universal as the Catholics may be, they can’t do the job alone. As evangelistic as the Baptists may be, they can’t do the job alone, either. As educated as the Presbyterians may be, they can’t do the job alone. As holy as the Nazarenes may be, they can’t do the job alone. As free as the non-denominational people may be, they can’t do the job alone. As historic as the United Church of Christ is, it can’t do the job alone. As separated as the Mennonites may be, they can’t do the job alone. As respectable as the Episcopalians may be, they can’t do the job alone. As justified as the Lutherans may be, they can’t do the job alone. As ancient as the Messianic Jews may be, they cannot do the job alone. We all must get together and do the job together in the mighty name of Jesus.”

We can see that charismatic unity is not Bible unity, but is ecumenical confusion. The Bible calls for the unity of the faith, but the leaders of these meetings were calling for a unity which disregarded the one true faith of the Word of God.

True Bible unity would never allow God’s people to countenance Romanism in their midst. Nothing is more unscriptural, more blasphemous, yet half of the participants of these charismatic congresses were Catholics. Many of the leaders and speakers were Romanists. All sorts of books promoting Romanism were sold at the conferences. There were books about the popes and the priesthood, about Mary and pilgrimages to Mary shrines, about celibacy, about the rosary, about the Roman sacraments. There were a great variety of rosaries, Mary statues, and crucifixes for sale in Indianapolis. A great many of the ministries promoted by the congress were Catholic. How can this be?

Such doctrinal confusion, my friends, has nothing to do with Christ’s prayer in John 17. Seven times in that prayer that Christ referred to “the word” and “the truth.” Consider these verses from Christ’s high priestly prayer:

“For I have given unto them THE WORDS which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.”

“Sanctify them through THY TRUTH: thy word is TRUTH.” (John 17:8,17)

In light of the way Christ exalted the truth of the Word of God, it would be strange indeed to think that He was praying for an ecumenical unity. Christ prayed for those who “have kept thy word” (Jn 17:6). How impossible, then, is an interpretation of this passage which has Christ praying for an ecumenical unity among those who have NOT kept the Word of God!

Roman mass each morning of the conference

Each morning at New Orleans ’87 and Indianapolis ’90 there was a Roman Catholic mass–right in the very heart of these charismatic meetings. Consider what happens at a Catholic mass. First, we have a man claiming to be ordained a priest after the order of Melchisedec. This is foolish because the Bible gives no authority for the formation of a special priesthood among the New Testament churches. The only priesthood spoken of for the churches is the priesthood of all believers (1 Peter 2:9). Beyond that, the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is our great high priest. He alone could be a priest after the order of Melchisedec spoken of in Hebrews 7. Christ alone is “without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life” (Heb. 7:3).

What blasphemy for a Catholic priest to claim to be after this order! Further, this bogus priest claims to have the power to turn bread and wine into the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. The Catholic church claims that Christ actually becomes present on their altars. How foolish! How strange! How contrary to the Scriptures!

Yet a Roman mass was held every morning, and among the leaders of the conferences there were no protests against this blasphemy. I spoke with many of the congress leaders and participants, and none were outraged at the mass. In fact, on the last evening of New Orleans ’87, Vinson Synan, congress chairman, said, “If you want to see something beautiful, come see a spirit-filled Catholic mass.” He was referring to the mass which was to be held the next morning–Sunday morning–in the Superdome. This shows that Synan is not merely biting his tongue about Catholic heresies in order to promote unity; he truly appreciates and loves these apostate things! These Pentecostals and Catholics are indeed one in the spirit–but it is not the Holy Spirit!

I hope our readers see the significance of the Roman Catholic mass at the center of a massive charismatic meeting. There is nothing in the world of Christendom more blasphemous and false than the Catholic mass. And for 200 popular charismatic leaders and tens of thousands of charismatic Christians to allow it to be performed in their midst is incontrovertible evidence of the apostasy of the charismatic movement itself. It is time for Christians to awaken out of sleep and to see the charismatic movement for what it is–a way of error which is leading deeper and deeper into apostasy and closer and closer toward Rome, the very seat of apostasy.

Rosaries and madonnas for sale

In the book sales area there was a large assortment of rosaries, madonnas, crucifixes, and such things for sale. There were books on the popes, on Mary shrines such as Fatima and Medjugorje, on the mass, on the “saints,” on celibacy. In fact, every Roman heresy was promoted at the Indianapolis charismatic conference through speakers and books.

The pope is “world’s most moral man”

One of the saddest things I saw at these meetings was the spiritual blindness which has overcome James Robison. He was once a powerful evangelist and preached against sin and apostasy. He boldly rebuked the liberalism which is destroying the Southern Baptist convention of which he was a member. He had fruitful city wide evangelistic crusades. Those days are gone, though. He allowed a charismatic man to lay hands on him; he accepted the false spirit of that movement, and he can no longer see error. The Apostle Paul feared that the Corinthians would bear with false spirits, and that is what Robison did (2 Cor. 11:1-6).

The following excerpt from Robison’s message in New Orleans shows the spiritual blindness which has overcome him:

“I tell you what, one of the finest representatives of morality on this earth right now is the pope. People who know it really believe he is a born again man.”

My, my, how blind and foolish can a man become! If the charismatic experience causes men to be so utterly spiritually blind as this, it obviously is not of the Holy Spirit of Truth. The pope bears such titles as “His Holiness,” “The Vicar of Christ,” “Holy Father,” and other names which can only be claimed by the Almighty Triune God Himself. Pope John Paul II brought together leaders from most of the world’s heathen religions in Assisi and had them pray with him for peace in the world–praying to the god of fire, to the god of the big thumb, to the god Allah, to the gods Shiva, Ram and the other pantheon of Hindu gods, to the gods of the rivers and sky and trees! John Paul II is so infatuated with the false Mary of Catholicism that he visits the Mary shrines in each country he visits, and embroidered on his garments are words in Latin which mean “Totally yours, Mary.” John Paul II, in speaking to the World Council of Church leaders last year, said that “we have been incorporated into Christ through our baptism and thus we are already one in baptism.”

My friends, there has never been a moral pope. The pope could get saved, but he would then abhor and denounce the blasphemies of the papacy. The fact that the charismatic spirit imparts sympathy toward Romanism is incontrovertible evidence that it is a spirit of error.

Mary exalted as the Queen of Heaven

The Catholics who spoke at Indianapolis were great lovers of Mary. In fact, the Catholic charismatic movement could almost be called a Mary movement. Typical of the spirit of the Catholic renewal movement was a testimony by John Boucher who taught on “evangelism” during the afternoon Catholic sessions. In giving “nine ways to evangelize Catholics” Boucher said, “Knowing Jesus transformed my extreme prejudice against Marian devotion into a love for the Blessed Mother. I explain how knowing him personally brought me to know her personally.” O.K. That’s traditional Romanism, and it is the spirit of the Catholic “renewal,” but it is not Bible and it is not Christian.

During the Saturday afternoon Catholic session at Indianapolis, Nancy Kellar, a nun, spoke Thursday morning on “Meeting God in the Body of Christ.” Again, Mary was exalted, literally, to the heavens. Kellar spoke in “tongues”–shananaleum manalea, shananaleum manalea, shananaleum manalea, shananaleum manalea–then gave the Litany of the Blessed Virgin by St. Louis de Montfort, which goes like this:

Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. … Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us. Holy Mary, pray for us. Holy Mother of God, Holy Virgin of virgins, Mother of Christ, Mother of divine grace, Mother most pure, Mother most chaste, Mother inviolate, Mother undefiled, Mother most amiable, Mother most admirable, Mother of good counsel, Mother of our Creator, Mother of our Savior, Virgin most prudent, Virgin most venerable, Virgin most renowned, Virgin most powerful, Virgin most merciful, Virgin most faithful, Mirror of justice, Seat of wisdom, Cause of our joy, Spiritual vessel, Vessel of honor, Singular vessel of devotion, Mystical rose, Tower of David, Tower of ivory, House of gold, Ark of the covenant, Gate of heaven, Morning star, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, Help of Christians, Queen of patriarchs, Queen of prophets, Queen of Apostles, Queen of martyrs, Queen of confessors, Queen of virgins, Queen of all saints, Queen conceived without original sin, Queen assumed into heaven, Queen of the most holy Rosary, Queen of peace … Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. (St. Louis de Montfort, True devotion to the Blessed Virgin, (Montfort Publications: Bay Shore, 1987), pp. 164-165.)

Isn’t that blasphemous! Isn’t that horrible! Sure it is, yet right in the midst of the charismatic conference this type of heresy was given a warm and enthusiastic home. This, my friends, is NOT true Christian unity.

Charismatic leader praises God for purgatory

Another illustration of the gross heresy countenanced in the charismatic-ecumenical movement is seen in a speech in Indianapolis by priest Tom Forrest. Forrest is a Catholic priest based in Rome and is in charge of the Roman Catholic program to “evangelize” the world by the year 2000. He works hand in hand with the pope and is a great lover of Roman heresies. One morning in Indianapolis, Forrest spoke to the Roman Catholic session, and said, “Our role in evangelization is not just to make Christians; our job is to make people as richly and as fully Christian as we can make them by bringing them into the Catholic church.” Forrest continued by glorying in the Catholic distinctives. He praised God for the sacraments. He praised God for the mass. He praised God for the priesthood, “according to the order of Melchizedek.” He praised God for Mary, the “Queen of Paradise, [who] is praying for us till she sees us in glory.” He praised God for the papacy. He praised God for Catholic tradition, for the saints, for the liturgy. Finally, he praised God for purgatory. Yes, you read that right. Tom Forrest praised God for purgatory! He said:

“As Catholics–now I love this one–we have purgatory! Thank God! I’m one of those people that would never get to Paradise without it! It’s the only way to go. You can’t take any sin. You can’t take any imperfection. You can’t take any sin weakness of your character, not the littlest selfishness, not the littlest bit of disagreement with anyone else to Paradise. You have got to leave it all behind. And if you don’t get it done here, that’s where you leave it behind, in purgatory. Thank God we know that! [clapping]”

And the thousands of charismatic Catholics present that morning said “amen” and clapped and praised God right along with Forrest for all these foolish heresies. They all praised God for purgatory.

Protestants are saying the rosary

Another priest who has become popular in the charismatic movement is Michael Scanlan, the head of the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. In Indianapolis, Scanlan spoke on the “The Power of Intercession,” and gave a testimony of his experiences in jail for picketing an abortion clinic in 1989. He said the group of demonstrators–Catholics and Protestants–were placed in an armory and spent the two weeks together. They had mass every morning; they said the rosary two or more times a day; they had a seminar on Marian theology and papal teaching.

The main point that Scanlan made from this experience was the “blessing” of seeing “most of the Protestants say the rosary.” In fact, he said some of them started wearing the rosary around their necks, and since then when a demonstration is held in the Pittsburgh area, “Protestants who were in jail there have led the rosary.” Scanlan was enthused about this: “What can God do! What can God do in response to prayer! What power there is in simply coming before God and praying. The bonds of unity among us!”

Imagine allowing this kind of error to be spread without evena word of reproof or warning! Imagine. Speakers praising God for purgatory. Speakers praising God that Protestants are learning to pray to Mary. Yet it’s a fact. No warning was given by any of the leaders involved in these conferences–not by John Wimber, nor by Floyd McClung, nor by Karl Strader, nor by Loren Cunningham, nor by Larry Lea, nor by Joy Dawson, nor by Bill and Gloria Gaither, nor by Bob Weiner, nor by Jane Hansen, nor by Charles Kraft, nor by Peter Wagner, nor by Carl Richardson, nor by Paul Cain.

No one gave a warning. No one reproved heresy. No one cared anything about Bible separation. No one said, “Hey, the Roman mass is blasphemous; avoid it!” No one said, “Listen, folks, Rome teaches a damnable gospel which has led multitudes to hell; beware!” No one said, “Look out, brethren, there are a lot of books over in the book sales area that will destroy your Christian life!”

Mr. Purgatory himself, Tom Forrest, gave the closing message of the congress on Saturday evening, and he was introduced and received as a true man of God.

Of course, Romanism was not the only error at New Orleans and Indianapolis; error abounded on every hand, but Romanism was the most glaring error and is therefore a clear example of what we are saying: that the walls of Bible separation are being broken down by the charismatic movement.

It is an understatement to say that there was great confusion about unity in Indianapolis, as there is in the charismatic movement it represented.

CONFUSION ABOUT PROPHECY

There was also confusion about prophecy in Indianapolis. Peter Wagner of Fuller Seminary spoke and claimed that the 1980s were the decade of prophecy, marking the beginning of a supposed restoration of prophecy to the churches. Of course, there has always been prophecy in the charismatic movement, but this is different. Wagner called it “serious prophecy.” He said, “I’m talking about Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah’s kind of prophecy, where God speaks to the churches.”

Prophecies were given during each general session of the conference in the evenings, and many of the speakers during the morning and afternoon sessions gave prophecies and spoke of revelations they have had from God.

One group of the so-called “serious prophets” have been established in Kansas City since 1982 under the umbrella of the Kansas City Fellowship (KCF) and Grace Ministries, with Mike Bickle as their leader. Some of these are Bob Jones [NOT the Bob Jones of Bob Jones University!], John Paul Jackson, David Parker, Jim Goll, Francis Frangipane, and Reuven Doron. Paul Cain from Dallas, Texas, is closely associated with the Kansas City Fellowship and is considered the greatest prophet in their midst.

The prophets with the KCF are not the only new charismatic prophets by any means. A great number of their leaders claim to receive prophecies from God. Larry Lea is a key example. He is considered the apostle of prayer for this century and frequently speaks of the revelations God supposedly gives to him. John Wimber, too, has swallowed the prophecy thing “hook, line, and sinker.” He has been given personal prophecies by Paul Cain and others associated with the KCF, and as a result has actually brought the KCF into his own Vineyard Ministries.

The growing influence these men are having in the charismatic movement is seen in the fact that Wimber, Bickle, and Cain spoke in Indianapolis and were received enthusiastically. Their session was one of the most well attended of the conference.

We are including an article called “The New Prophets” in this issue of O TIMOTHY, and you are referred to for more about the prophets. Here it is sufficient to say that the prophecy at Indianapolis is not biblical, but is confusion. The new prophets are frequently wrong in their predictions. They frequently misquote and misinterpret Scripture. They have even exaggerated about their predictions. This alone is enough to show that they are not of God. There was great confusion about prophecy in Indianapolis.

CONFUSION ABOUT TONGUES

The great common denominator of the Pentecostal-charismatic movement is “Holy Spirit baptism” and tongues. Yet the tongues of Pentecostalism is not the tongues of the Bible. That is a fact.

The tongues which I heard in Indianapolis were not languages, but were merely repetitious mumblings. Larry Lea supposedly spoke in tongues Thursday morning, and his were an example of what is being passed off for tongues in the charismatic movement. It went something like this: “Bubblyida bubblyida hallelujah bubblyida hallabubbly shallabubblyida kolabubblyida glooooory hallelujah bubblyida.”

If you think I’m making fun of the man, you are wrong. That is taken directly from the audio tape of his message that morning, and that is exactly what he said when he was supposedly speaking in tongues. If that is a language, it certainly has a simple vocabulary! My children had a more complex language than that when they were two years old.

The tongues of the New Testament were real languages. It was a language which the speaker had never learned, and thus was a miraculous sign. That’s what Acts 2 plainly says. Consider:

“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” Acts 2:4-8

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14, tells us something more about tongues in the early church:

“Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.” 1 Corinthians 14:20-22

Paul was trying to make the Corinthian church understand God’s purpose in giving tongues. He quotes a prophecy from Isaiah 28 and applies it to New Testament tongues. The prophecy was that God would speak in foreign tongues to the Jews as a sign, yet they would not believe it. THUS, TONGUES WERE A SIGN TO THE UNBELIEVING JEWS, TO THE NATION ISRAEL. Yet Israel rejected that sign as they did the sign of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and they continued stubbornly in their blindness and unbelief. God, therefore, turned to the Gentiles to take out of the Gentile nations a people for his name. That is what God has been doing these past 2,000 years since the ascension of Christ. That is what the “church age” is all about. One day God will again turn His attention to the nation Israel and all prophecies for Israel will be literally fulfilled during the Great Tribulation, the glorious return of Christ, and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

The purpose for tongues soon ceased as the Gospel was carried to the Gentiles in the ends of the earth. This is why we see so little about tongues after Pentecost. There are a couple of other mentions in Acts, then the references in 1 Corinthians 12-14. That is all. That is all God says about tongues in the entire New Testament! And much of that which is said about tongues is corrective. The church at Corinth was abusing spiritual gifts and had to be corrected, much like the charismatic movement of our day.

Friends, the miraculous tongues of the first century were not “bubblyida bubblyida bubblyida bubblyida”! To say the least, there was great confusion about tongues in Indianapolis.

CONFUSION ABOUT THE GOSPEL

Paul’s fear for the carnal Corinthians was that they would bear with false gospels and false Christs (2 Corinthians 11:1-6). That’s exactly what is going on within the charismatic movement. There were many false gospels and Christs preached at Indianapolis.

The entire thrust of these meetings, supposedly, was world evangelism. There are aggressive programs to evangelize the world by the year 2000, and there are buzzwords such as “the whole church for the whole world.” This will never work. The whole church, so called, is a hodgepodge of denominations, independent groups and assemblies, many of which preach blatantly false gospels. How can people who do not know the true gospel evangelize the world? They can’t.

Rome’s sacramental gospel was at Indianapolis

What about Rome’s sacramental gospel? The confusion surrounding the gospel in the charismatic movement is seen in the acceptance of Rome with its false gospel. And Rome’s gospel was preached at Indianapolis.

In the afternoons, the Catholics held what they called a “School of Evangelism.” On Thursday priest Chris Aridas spoke on “Vision of Catholic Evangelization” and said, “Do not be satisfied with conversion to Jesus; seek to be converted to the church. … A Catholic evangelist knows sin did not destroy what we are in God’s plan. We have to remember that as Catholic evangelists we are good. And those who have not yet accepted the Lord are good. … This is why the virgin Mary is so important in evangelism.”

This illustrates the great confusion about the gospel in Indianapolis.

A workbook called “Bringing Christ to My Everyday World” was used for the Catholic School of Evangelism. Chapter six is entitled “Sharing the Gospel of Jesus.” What gospel are these Catholics sharing? That particular lesson was given in Indianapolis by John Boucher, and he started by giving what he called simple summaries of the gospel. One of those was the Nicene Creed. And what “gospel” does the Nicene Creed offer? The last part of it says, “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” (John Boucher, Bringing Christ to My Everyday World, Chariscenter USA: Notre Dame, 1990, p. 13)

There you go. That IS the gospel of Rome, of course. Rome teaches that Christ died for man’s sins and that He delivered salvation into the hands of the church to distribute. Salvation is achieved by coming to the church, being baptized, being faithful to the sacraments of the church, then going to purgatory (as priest Tom Forrest so eloquently explained), and finally–hopefully, possibly–being released to paradise.

Boucher called for a volunteer to help him teach the crowd how to lead someone to “receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” He asked this volunteer, “Would you like to open your heart more deeply to the gift of the Holy Spirit that you received in baptism?” When the volunteer had prayed, Boucher also prayed thusly: “I thank you for the gift of salvation. Lord, I pray you will give Perry a sign, and I ask you and Mary to pray for that.”

Is that Bible evangelism? My, oh, my!

Boucher said the gospel can be summarized as “Jesus Christ is Lord.” No it can’t. That’s not the gospel. Jesus Christ IS Lord, and those who are saved receive Him as Lord, but that’s not the gospel. It’s crucial that we not confuse the gospel. The gospel is summarized for us by God in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 —

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

That’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ, folks. That’s the one. That’s IT. That’s the one that will get you to heaven, praise God! A man must know that he is a condemned sinner and that there has been a full salvation provided by Jesus Christ on the cross. This payment for the sin debt was received by God the Father, as has been testified by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. The Gospel message is that Christ died for our sins according the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. The Gospel is that full, free, eternal salvation is offered to any sinner who will receive it from the hands of the resurrected Christ.

Any gospel which differs from the one in 1 Corinthians 15 is a false gospel–even if it differs just a little bit. And the Apostle told us what to do about false gospels: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). There you go. That’s what God says about the Catholic leaders in the charismatic movement who are preaching the Roman gospel. Let them be accursed. That might not be nice etiquette, but it is Bible and it is the truth.

Evangelism is praying the rosary

Evangelism was a key word in Indianapolis, but most of it was certainly not Bible evangelism. Priest Tom Forrest, who was treated as a spiritual hero at New Orleans ’87 and Indianapolis ’90, gave several illustrations of how he “evangelizes.” In a message at New Orleans he said that he evangelizes by walking through the streets of Rome saying the rosary and praying for those he passes. What a strange method of evangelism! Of course, you can expect anything from a man who praises God for purgatory. In a message at Indianapolis Forrest said, “Now when you are doing something with your music and your praise to improve the liturgy of your parish, you are evangelizing.” Oh? Improving church ritual is evangelizing!

Forrest also said in Indianapolis, “So evangelization is never fully successful; it’s only partial until the convert is made a member of Christ’s body by being led into the [Catholic] church.” Forrest is confused. Evangelization is preaching the gospel so people can be born again. To confuse that with discipleship whereby a person is brought into a church and trained in the Word of God is great confusion. Salvation is never to be confused with discipleship and Christian growth. To do so is to mix works with faith, law with grace, and to pervert the gospel.

Baptismal regeneration preached at Indianapolis

Lutheran pastor LeRoy Flagstad of Rapid City, South Dakota, spoke on Saturday afternoon at the Lutheran session, and his sermon, “Do Baptized Lutherans Need to be Born Again?” was available at the Lutheran sessions. What gospel does this charismatic pastor offer to a lost and dying world? Consider:

“How this new birth happens is even more miraculous than physical birth. But one thing is clear, we know it happens through baptism. … Christian life begins in baptism. It is a powerful sacrament. It is an instrument used by God to bring new birth. A person who is baptized, regardless of age, is “born again.” … At the baptismal font he was given spiritual birth. … A few “Holiness” groups have made this teaching [eternal security] one of their teachings. They believe that “once saved, always saved,” that no matter what happens, a person never falls away from God. This is not Lutheran teaching. Relationships can be broken. Solemn covenants in marriage can end in divorce, with two people no longer married. This can also happen in a spiritual way.”

This is a false gospel. It’s not Bible; it’s heresy. We don’t point men to a baptismal pool for the new birth, but to the living, resurrected Jesus Christ who paid the full price for sin and who is waiting to enter into the lives of those who call upon Him and to place them into an eternal father-son relationship with God through His blood and the power of the Holy Spirit. Baptism doesn’t do that!

Congress chairman said there was no time for explanations of the gospel

There was so much confusion about the gospel at New Orleans and Indianapolis that a great number of those attending had no confidence of salvation. This was painfully illustrated one night in New Orleans.

Rienhard Bonnke was the speaker, and he had ranted and raved about all sorts of strange experiences he has had in his evangelistic ministry in Africa and elsewhere. He told of going into a music store in Johannesburg, South Africa, and a man he had never seen before approached him in fear and trembling and said, “I see Jesus in your eyes.” That was supposed to be a wonderful miracle which led to “revival” in that store. There were lots of stories like that, but there was no clear presentation of the Gospel.

Bonnke mentioned the gospel, but he did not explain plainly what the gospel is. In fact, he made fun of those who present the gospel in a simple fashion. The exact words were, “Gospel in a nutshell; you must be nuts! The universe is too small to contain the Gospel.” Bonnke is partly right, but when dealing with Bible doctrine, a mixture of truth and error equals error just as a mixture of poison and pure water equals poison. It is true that the Gospel, in all of its great truths and implications, is greater than anyone can comprehend. But this does not mean the Gospel cannot be put in a nutshell, in a summarized form so that people can understand it and thereby be saved. We have seen that the Apostle Paul put the Gospel in a nutshell in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4! But since Bonnke does not believe the Gospel can be summarized this way, I suppose this is why, in the midst of all his ranting and raving and telling of strange stories, he didn’t actually get around to preaching the Gospel message clearly and simply.

Yet Bonnke did give an invitation at the end of his message, and he urged those who wanted to be saved to stand and repeat a prayer with him. Guess what? Half of those 40,000 charismatic tongues-speakers stood. That’s right. The same people who had been lifting up hands, and shouting, and singing, and dancing, and speaking tongues, and falling on the floor, and laying hands on one another stood to say the sinner’s prayer. And not only did those standing say a prayer, but people sitting all around me near the press section said the prayer, as well. What confusion!

At a press conference the next day with the chairman (Pentecostal Vinson Synan) and the director (Catholic David Sklorenko) of the congress, Dennis Costella of Fundamental Evangelistic Association sked about the confusion which surrounded the matter of salvation at the conference. Following is that amazing dialogue:

COSTELLA: “In the plenary sessions during the first part of the week, the speakers and all of the officients, everybody has been referring to the congress and the participants continually as being believers, as Christians, the saints, and so forth, you know. Why did–it seemed to me at least–nearly half the congregation last night stood to receive Christ as their Savior and to be born again? Was this response surprising to the leadership of this conference? And not only those who were standing but many of those that were still seated were praying the sinner’s prayer. I don’t understand this.”

SYNAN: “It would be surprising to the Protestants here who understand the language of evangelicalism and the altar call tradition. I think the Catholics, and probably the majority who were standing were Catholics, who would see this as a kind of a renewal of their baptismal vows, or receiving Jesus tonight like [they] do every Sunday.”

COSTELLA: “Can I follow up a little bit on that? Well then, wouldn’t it seem that something as major as the definition of the gospel itself and what effects or what brings about the conversion of a lost soul to where they are saved, if there is that much difference and misunderstanding among Catholics and Protestants at this congress, wouldn’t it be crucial to, not just in a workshop but in a plenary session to speak definitively as to what the gospel message is so that there isn’t this confusion?”

SYNAN: “Well, you know, it took me 52 years to come to my understanding of what Pentecostal theology is. And it probably took Dave [Sklorenko, Roman Catholic Director of the Congress] 48 years to understand what this is. We can’t in one night get a crystal clear understanding on the part of everyone, because we come from different traditions.”

COSTELLA: “But the congress won’t speak to this seeming contradiction or misunderstanding to try to clarify that?”

SYNAN: “WELL, WE DON’T HAVE TIME TO DO THAT.”

Isn’t that amazing! Synan confused the simple preaching of the gospel with coming to a full doctrinal understanding of Bible truth, then said that they didn’t have time to speak to the misunderstanding and confusion which was obviously present in the minds of a great mass of those attending the conference. It was a conference on world evangelization, but they didn’t have time to speak clearly to this confusion. Forty thousand people were being exhorted to go forth and evangelize the world, but at least half of them didn’t have a clear understanding in their own minds about their own salvation. What confusion!

It was Rome’s false gospel, of course, that presented a great deal of the confusion at these conferences. It is amazing that people who claim to be Christians could be so blind that they cannot see that the Roman Catholic Church has nothing to offer to world evangelism. And that is an understatement! Rome is no friend to the gospel nor to Bible believers.

It is so crucial that the gospel be explained clearly and simply to men. Talking about the gospel and referring to it is not the same as preaching it. At New Orleans, Rienhard Bonnke said, “I am an evangelist and I preach the ABC’s of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Actually, though, he only referred to the gospel, and didn’t explain what it is. He said Jesus is the Savior, but that is not a clear presentation of the Gospel. In the midst of the confusion of Christendom today, that statement can mean practically anything!

Men must have the Gospel explained to them. This is why God sent the evangelist Philip into the desert to meet the Ethiopian eunuch, who was reading Isaiah 53 while riding in his chariot. The eunuch admitted to Philip that without a teacher he could not understand what he was reading. It is crucial that the gospel be presented simply and clearly so men can understand and be saved.

Sadly, though, there was great confusion about the gospel at Indianapolis as there is throughout the charismatic movement.

CONFUSION ABOUT HEALING

There was also great confusion in Indianapolis about healing. Lots of professed healers were there, including Charles and Francis Hunter–“the Happy Hunters” as they’re often called. The Hunters illustrate the confusion about healing that is rampant within the charismatic movement. They call their book How to Heal the Sick a “handbook for the everyday Christian who needs to know how to minister healing biblically.” The Hunters teach that every Christian should heal and that it is always God’s will to heal. If a healing does not occur, it supposedly is a problem with our faith. In What They’re All About, Francis Hunter says, “You see, Jesus gave us the job of laying hands on the sick and believing for their recovery. Don’t get hung up and say, ‘God does it all.’ … With my heart and soul I believe that this end-time revival will be won by or will be accomplished by the multitudes who are obediently going out and laying hands on the sick. … We show you how to speak to a mountain, believe and get the miracle you need.”

That’s just plain foolishness. If healing is God’s will and is part of His promise to the Christian in this present world, why aren’t the Hunters perfectly healthy? He is bald. She has terrible eyesight and can’t see without her glasses; she wears a wig and is overweight. I’m not trying to poke fun at them. I’m trying to show the hypocrisy involved with the teaching that healing is in the atonement. During a healing crusade in the Philippines, Francis Hunter developed pink eye and had to go to the doctor for treatment, in spite of their prayers for her and their proclamations against the disease. My friends, I don’t want to be rude, but this is hypocrisy.

If Christians can lay hands on the sick and heal, why do the Hunters only see a few healed of those who come to them for healing? I have seen the wheelchair cases brought into their meetings, then wheeled away just as crippled as they were before they came. This never happened when people came to Jesus Christ for healing. My friends, if the healing gift is for every Christian today, why can’t Christians heal?

The simple fact is that Christians cannot heal like Christ did, because it is not God’s will that they do so. Christians cannot heal like the apostles, because the healings wrought by the apostles were “signs of an apostle” and were not done by other Christians.

We deal much more with the matter of healing in the accompanying article in this issue, “Is Healing in the Atonement?” Suffice it here to say that there was great confusion in Indianapolis about healing, as there is in the charismatic movement it represents.

CONFUSION ABOUT A WOMAN’S SPIRITUAL MINISTRY

Many of the speakers in Indianapolis were women. Speakers during the general evening sessions included Jane Hansen of Women’s Aglow, Joy Dawson, Linda Loontz, and Ernestine Reems. Other women gave prophecies during the evening sessions. Dozens of other women spoke during the morning and afternoon sessions.

This is confusion. The Bible forbids women from preaching or usurping authority over men:

“Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” 1 Timothy 2:11-14

“Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.” 1 Cor. 14:34

Why are these clear Scriptures ignored almost throughout the charismatic movement? God forbids women to teach men. They are to keep silence in the churches. They are not to preach. They are not to pastor. They are not to prophesy and speak in tongues over men. This is forbidden.

Some will say, foolishly, that Paul had a bad attitude toward women. Did he? No, the things he wrote in his epistles about women were not his own thoughts and feelings. Note:

“If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.” 1 Cor. 14:37

Paul had great problems with the carnal Christians at Corinth. They had difficulty accepting his authority, and he had to speak rather sharply. Those in the charismatic movement have a similar attitude toward the authority of the Apostle Paul. Few charismatics would admit that they do not believe and accept Paul’s doctrine, but in practice most do not. Most simply ignore Paul’s commandments about women. This, my friends, is confusion.

CONFUSION ABOUT ROCK MUSIC

At New Orleans and Indianapolis, separate meetings called Youth Explosions were held. The one at Indianapolis was held in an enclosed sports stadium several blocks from the Hoosier Dome where the main meetings were conducted. During concerts, the building was darkened except for the lighted stage, and the three thousand or so young people moved and jived in the dark to hour after hour of rock music. This was interspersed with sermons which amounted to ecumenical brainwashing.

One speaker had the young people shout their denominational names into the air all at the same time and said, “This is the kind of noise God loves.” The goal, obviously, was to break down every kind of doctrinal and denominational barrier. That speaker said, “We are not denominationized Christians; we are world Christians,” and, “Denominationalism is hardening of the categories.”

That’s clever, but it’s also wicked. The Scriptures are given for doctrine (2 Tim. 3:16). Those who hold doctrines contrary to the Scriptures are to be rejected and avoided (Rom. 16:17). Remember that one of the denominations involved here is Roman Catholicism. The key spirit of the charismatic movement today is ecumenism and the downplaying of Bible doctrine and, sadly, the young people at Indianapolis were bombarded with a steady blast from that false wind.

CONFUSION ABOUT REVIVAL

A theme of charismatic prophecy is end-time revival. Peter Wagner of Fuller Seminary spoke on “Warfare and Intercession” on Thursday morning, August 16, 1990, and referred to the end-time revival the charismatics are expecting:

“What I am saying now here … is that all these signs, all that the Spirit is saying to the churches, are pointing to the great revival, the capital “R” revival, you know? … children are praying, children are prophesying, children are laying hands on the sick and they’re getting healed. This is still kind of rare, but this usually will happen. There’ll just be an outpouring of spiritual power over the next 10 or 15 years that I’ve been describing.”

Note that Wagner referred to special miracles being done by children. This is being prophesied by Paul Cain and Bob Jones (NOT the Bob Jones of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina) and other of the new prophets. The problem with the charismatic revival, so called, is that it is not a true Holy Spirit revival. There are three reasons I know this is true:

FIRST, WE REJECT THE CHARISMATIC “REVIVAL” BECAUSE OF ITS STRANGE, UNSCRIPTURAL ROOTS. Vinson Synan, chairman of the congress in Indianapolis, is a Pentecostal and a historian. In the introduction to Azusa Street: The Roots of Modern-day Pentecost, he said,

“Few events have affected modern church history as greatly as the famous Azusa Street revival of 1906-1909, which ushered into being the worldwide twentieth-century Pentecostal renewal. From this single revival has issued a movement which by 1980 numbers over 50,000,000 classical Pentecostals in uncounted churches and missions in practically every nation of the world. In addition to these Pentecostals, there are untold numbers of charismatics in every denomination who can trace at least part of their spiritual heritage to the Azusa Street meeting.” (page ix)

The strange “revival” in Los Angeles is considered so important in the eyes of the leaders of today’s charismatic movement that it was announced in the AD2000 periodical that “donations are being solicited to restore the house at 216 N. Bonnie Brae, Los Angeles, that played a significant role in the development of Pentecostalism in the United States. It was there, in 1906, that the famous revival began that soon moved to the Azusa Street facility because the Bonnie Brae house was too small to accommodate the crowds.” (AD2000, Volume 1, Number 6, July 22-26, 1987)

The things which happened at the mission on Azusa street in the early 1900s are indeed happening today in the charismatic movement of the 1980s, and this backs up the claim by charismatic leaders such as Vinson Synan that the “spirit of Azusa Street” is the spirit that energizes them today. The problem is that the spirit of Azusa Street is not the Holy Spirit of God.

Consider some excerpts from the eyewitness report of the things which happened at Azusa street:

“Someone would finally get up anointed for the message. All seemed to recognize this and gave way. It might be a child, a woman, or a man. … Someone might be speaking. Suddenly the Spirit would fall upon the congregation … Men would fall all over the house, like the slain in battle … The scene often resembled a forest of fallen trees … Presumptuous men would sometimes come among us. Especially preachers … The breath would be taken from them. Their minds would wander, their brains reel. Things would turn black before their eyes … Brother Ansel Post, a Baptist preacher, was sitting on a chair in the middle of the floor one evening in the meeting. Suddenly the Spirit fell upon him. He sprang from his chair, began to praise God in a loud voice in ‘tongues,’ and ran all over the place … There is much ‘slaying power’ manifest … Strong men lie for hours under the mighty power of God, cut down like grass.” (Frank Bartleman, Azusa Street: The Roots of Modern-day Pentecost, Logos, 1980, pp. 59-64)

These are strange things–things which did not happen in the New Testament churches which were under the leadership of the Lord’s apostles. They are things caused by a spirit other than the Holy Spirit. But these very things happened in New Orleans and Indianapolis and are happening at other charismatic meetings and groups across the world.

At afterglow meetings following the evening sessions at New Orleans the leader urged the people to form lines in front of each of the 20 or so workers so they could be prayed for and hands could be laid on them. When hands were laid on them, many fell backward and lay on the floor, sometimes for only a few seconds, sometimes for five or more minutes. Some appeared to have totally lost consciousness; others merely appeared to have momentarily swooned or fainted, while still others appeared to have faked their “slaying.” Some did not fall down at all, but many did. They call this being “slain in the spirit,” and “falling under the power.” What spirit? What power?

Only three times in the New Testament do we find people falling down because of a spiritual power. First, some were made to fall by demonic powers (Matthew 17:15). Second, some fell down when Jesus spoke to those who came to capture Him in the garden of Gethsemene: “As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground” (John 18:6). Third, Saul, the persecutor of Christians, fell down when the glorified Jesus Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus. “And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” (Acts 9:4).

Note that all of these were unbelievers! They were lost people. Nowhere in the New Testament do we read of believers falling down unconscious because of the power of the Holy Spirit. Spirit slaying is a demonic or a hypnotic practice, yet it has been evident in the Pentecostal-charismatic movement since its beginning. This is not Bible revival.

Not only do the charismatics trace their origin to Azusa Street and the beginnings of Pentecostalism at the turn of the century, but also to the Catholic mystics and strange offbeat groups of past centuries. In the Latter Days is Synan’s attempt to trace the roots for the “greatest revival in human history,” and what strange roots he finds! Amazingly, Synan finds the Pentecostal spirit in the Montanists of the second century. Montanus and his followers spoke in tongues, had visions, and claimed to be the direct mouthpieces of the Holy Spirit; they demanded celibacy, asceticism, and all sorts of unscriptural things.

Synan then finds the Pentecostal spirit moving through the Roman Catholic Church during the “dark ages” in their weird mystics, but you won’t find a more unscriptural, confused lot than these Catholic saints.

Next, Synan sees the Pentecostal spirit breaking out among the Irvingites of the mid-1800s. Edward Irving accepted a mentally imbalanced tongues-speaking woman, Mary Campbell, as a prophetess, and organized a cult called the Catholic Apostolic church after being expelled from the Presbyterian church for heresy. These are certainly strange roots for a Holy Spirit movement, and it proves to me that it is not a true Holy Spirit revival.

I know the charismatic “revival” is nothing of the sort because it’s roots are unscriptural and cultish.

SECOND, WE REJECT THE CHARISMATIC “REVIVAL” BECAUSE IT IS DIVORCED FROM LOVE FOR SOUND DOCTRINE. This was so evident at Indianapolis, as we have seen. Doctrinal confusion reigns supreme in this supposed revival. Yet Christ said the Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of Truth” (Jn. 14:17; 15:26; 16:13). I know the charismatic “revival” is nothing of the sort because it does not respect Bible truth.

THIRD, WE REJECT THE CHARISMATIC “REVIVAL” BECAUSE OF THE UNSCRIPTURAL PHENOMENA IT PRODUCES. What are the phenomena of the charismatic movement? Slayings, unintelligible babblings and mutterings, shakings, trances. This is not a Bible revival. It is confusion.

CONFUSION ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD

One thing that came across loud and clear at the conference in New Orleans and Indianapolis is that charismatics, for the most part, are not looking for the imminent (any moment) return of Christ, but are seeking to build the kingdom of God right now. The emphasis was on kingdom building, kingdom theology, kingdom evangelism, kingdom work.

To my knowledge none of the speakers preached and warned that Jesus could come at any moment and that we must be ready. Of course, this could have been mentioned in some of the workshops or meetings that I did not attend, since obviously it was not possible to listen to every message given at these large conferences. But there is no question that in the preaching in the general sessions in the evenings and in the workshops that I did attend, the overwhelming emphasis was kingdom theology.

All seemed to be taking for granted that there are going to be more years before Christ returns. The emphasis was on the decade of evangelism and revival between 1990 to the year 2000, and all eyes were turned toward this decade. Yet the Bible promises no decade of evangelism and revival prior to the return of Christ. The continual warning in the New Testament is to watch at all times, to be ready:

“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” Matt. 24:42

“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” Matt. 24:44

“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” Matt. 25:13

“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief… Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” 1 Thess. 5:1-4,6

“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” Rom. 13:11,12

Contrary to the teaching of these Scriptures, many of the speakers at the conference spoke as if this great decade of evangelism is going to result in Jesus’ return. Many said that Jesus is not going to return until all of the “Christians” (meaning Catholic and every type) come together in unity for world evangelism.

In New Orleans, Bob Weiner preached kingdom theology in calling for a decade of evangelism. He said, “We’re going out until America is saved and every nation filled with the Holy Ghost.” The Bible does not say this kind of thing is going to happen before Christ’s return. The Bible says the very opposite, and this “kingdom theology” proclaims a false hope and false goal for Christians.

Michael Scanlan, Roman Catholic priest who is president of the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, was a speaker at both conferences. In his book, Healing Principles, Scanlan testifies of his faith in the strange and false visions which are being seen by six young people in Medjugorje, Yugoslavia. These young people have been seeing supposed visions of Mary since 1981 and receiving messages from her. Several of the booths in the exhibition area of the congresses promoted pilgrimages to Medjugorje. Note what Scanlan says:

“During Holy Week the students had heard that last year those of us in the Servants of Christ the King, the community that is connected with University Chapel, had gone on a three-day bread and water fast in response to the message from Medjugorje to fast for the conversion of the world and for peace.” (Michael Scanlan, Healing Principles: Ten Basic Keys to Successful Prayer, Servant Books, 1987, pp. 34,35)

Scanlan, believing the visions of Medjugorje, is calling Christians to fast and pray for the conversion of the world and for world peace. As we have seen from the Bible verses quoted already, God does not promise such a thing. Just the opposite! “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thess. 5:3). The message of Medjugorje is helping promote the false kingdom theology of Roman Catholicism and the charismatic movement, and a false hope for a world peace which cannot possibly be brought about through Christian prayer and labor. It is not Mary speaking at Medjugorje; it is a deceiving spirit.

On the opening night of the New Orleans Congress, Roman Catholic Kevin Ranaghan, who was the leader of the large charismatic conference in Kansas City in 1977, said, “We’re praying this Superdome will be a new upper room so the day will come when the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as water covers the seas.”

Ranaghan is referring to the prophecy of Isaiah 11:9. The problem is that this prophecy is speaking of conditions in the earth after the return of Christ to build His earthly kingdom. Consider the context of this verse:

” … and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked… The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fattling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. … And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”

The passage obviously is speaking of conditions in the earth after the coming of Christ. I would not advise anyone today to allow their children to play with snakes or cockatrice! This illustrates how many charismatic leaders confuse passages of Scripture and fail to rightly divide the Word of God. Passages which apply to the rebuilding of Israel and the second coming of Christ are wrongly applied to the church age. This is how kingdom theology has been developed. It is a misapplication of Bible prophecy.

I will give one more example of kingdom theology and of the error it is causing in the minds of people. During the New Orleans congress, I interviewed Al Caperno who works with Century Marketing. We were standing at the Century Marketing booth at the exhibition area, and the thing which had particularly caught my attention was a sign on the booth wall containing this quote by Bob Mumford: “Century marketing is a corporation made up of men and women who desire to see the kingdom of God established in the earth. My relationship with these people has shown me that they are men and women of integrity.”

Following are excerpts from a tape-recorded conversation with Mr. Caperno.

CLOUD: “Bob Mumford has said [here I read from the sign on the wall of the exhibition booth, as quoted above]. Do you believe then that what you’re doing can establish the kingdom of God on the earth?”

CAPERNO: “Definitely. I believe the kingdom of God is like the government of God. God wants His people to take dominion over the earth. What we are doing in our jobs is trying to take dominion.”

CLOUD: “So do you believe there is going to come a literal return of Christ to establish a literal kingdom on the earth?”

CAPERNO: “My eschatology in that is pretty loose. I pretty much believe God wants me to live for today and take dominion today. I pretty much leave the future up to him … Bob [Mumford] has come to our plant a couple of times and spoke to our employees. We have 145 employees.”

Here is an example of another key charismatic leader, Bob Mumford, promoting this strange kingdom theology and recommending a “Christian” business which believes that it is building the kingdom of God in the world today through its marketing activities. Mumford recommends a company whose workers are totally confused about Bible prophecy and the kingdom of God.

Beware of kingdom theology. Christians are not building the kingdom of God in the world today, and nothing has to be done prior to the return of Christ. He could come at any moment. We are warned to watch every moment, for when least expected, Christ will return. There will not be peace in the world when Christ comes, but confusion. There will not be worldwide revival when he returns, but worldwide apostasy. We are to be busy carrying out the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20. We are to work, and to watch for Christ’s coming as we work. We are not to presume that we have another decade in which to work. We are not to try to create a false unity among every sort of Christian, but we are to hold fast to sound doctrine and separate from error until the end. America is not going to be saved; the nations are not going to be filled with the Holy Spirit; the world is not going to be covered with the knowledge of God–not until Christ returns following the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24; Isaiah 11-13).

Conclusion

So this was Indianapolis ’90. Some might ask, “Do you reject the entire charismatic movement because of what you saw in Indianapolis and New Orleans?” Yep, I do. I have traveled and studied enough to know that what I saw at these conferences is indicative of the entire movement. I do reject the charismatic movement.

That doesn’t mean I believe all charismatics are lost. I don’t believe that. Christians can be deceived. That’s why Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 11 that he feared for the church at Corinth that they would be deceived by the devil. That is a very real danger for Christians if they are not watchful. There are born again people throughout the ecumenical movement. The church of Sardis had a name that it lived but was dead. It was already apostate at the writing of Revelation. But Christ said, “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments …” (Rev. 3:4).

How many in the ecumenical movement are truly saved. Only the Lord knows. That’s not our business, anyway. Our business is to mark and avoid error.

“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:19).

All I know is that when I see heresies and errors, I’m going to stay away from it. I’m going to do what God says and avoid it. How about you?

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