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| The October 1999 Pneuma Informer |  |
In this Issue:
President's Page The Pneuma Foundation has come into being for the purpose of providing Biblical resources and information with the intent of expounding and defending the work of God the Holy Spirit and His gifts. These resources are for ministers and lay workers. We want to help local churches equip the saints and defend the Pentecostal/charismatic movement as having a great deal to contribute to the body of Christ. Pentecostals and charismatics have caused a resurgence in the gifts of the Spirit for today. This movement has brought to the fore-front such issues as divine healing, power confrontations with he kingdom of darkness, the prayer of faith, New Testament prophecy, praying in tongues, the five-fold ministry, and the ministry of the miraculous. These issues are often taught without a strong Biblical foundation. This has led to error, extremes, and a weakened witness to other evangelicals. Therefore, our purpose is to help provide a balanced, non-denominational, Scriptural foundation for the gifts of the Spirit. We also desire to promote dialogue with non-charismatic evangelicals in the hopes of bringing us together in greater unity and practice. The Pneuma Review, our quarterly journal, is designed along with other resources to assist in this vision. James M. Dettmann, President The Pneuma Foundation Introducing some of the Writers and Editors Meet some of the contributors to the Pneuma Review and the other publications of the Pneuma Foundation: Amos Yong is a scholar and author of numerous papers on pneumatology. Dr. Yong joined the Bethel College (St. Paul, MN) faculty in the Fall of 1999. Seen as a "rising star" among Pentecostal/charismatic scholars, his cooperation with the Pneuma Foundation is a true asset. James Dettmann is the President of the Pneuma Foundation and a Contributing Editor to the Pneuma Review. His vision for Biblically balanced teaching materials that are accessible to all in the Pentecostal/charismatic movement generated the efforts that started the Pneuma Foundation. Jim himself enjoys teaching from the Bible, specializing in eschatology (End times) and apologetics (defense of the Christian faith). Dave Johnson is a missionary and Bible teacher, joining the Pneuma Foundation as a Contributing Editor. His cross-cultural and missiological insights are a valuable contribution to the Pneuma Review and other publications of the Pneuma Foundation. His article "How to Receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit" will appear in the Winter 2000 issue of the Pneuma Review. Mike Dies is the Pneuma Review Book and Periodical Review Editor. He is a writer, avid book reader, and has some journalistic experience. His faithful participation in the vision of the Pneuma Foundation is greatly appreciated. * The next issue of the Pneuma Informer will include more introductions to writers and editors. More Excerpts from the Fall 1999 issue of the Pneuma ReviewThe Pneuma Review is a journal of ministry resources and theology for Pentecostal and charismatic ministries and leaders. From: "Tongues and Other Miraculous Gifts in the Second Through Nineteenth Centuries," by Richard Riss The fifth and final installment of the series by church historian Richard Riss. . . . The Moravians The gift of tongues is sometimes associated with the Moravian Brethren, a remnant of the Bohemian brethren (followers of John Huss) who became newly organized after finding refuge on the estate of Count von Zinzendorf (AD 1700-1760) in Saxony in 1722, in a Christian community which they called Herrnhut. In 1727, Zinzendorf retired from government service to devote himself to leadership of this community. In August of that year, there was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Herrnhut. A Moravian historian wrote as follows: Church history also abounds in records of special outpourings of the Holy Ghost, and verily the thirteenth of August, 1727 was a day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We saw the hand of God and His wonders, and we were all under the cloud of our fathers baptized with their Spirit. The Holy Ghost came upon us and in those days great signs and wonders took place in our midst. From that time scarcely a day passed but what we beheld His almighty workings amongst us. This account of the Moravian revival is not specific with respect to the signs and wonders that took place in their midst. Although the gift of tongues was not endorsed by the leaders of the Moravians, their opponents believed that they spoke in tongues. John Wesley The Moravians were a direct influence upon John Wesley (AD 1703-1791), the father of Methodism, whose conversion in 1738 took place shortly after long talks with Peter Boehler, one of the Moravian brethren. Wesley's response to a book published in 1748 clearly indicates his position with respect to operation of the gifts of the Spirit in his own day. Dr. Conyers Middleton, fellow of Trinity College, had written a book entitled A Free Inquiry into the Miraculous Powers, which are supposed to have subsisted in the Christian Church. Wesley spent twenty days, from January 4 until January 24 of 1749, writing a letter to Conyers Middleton refuting his thesis that there had been no miracles in the history of the church after the Bible had been written. With respect to the gift of tongues, Wesley wrote as follows: Section VI.1. The eighth and last of the miraculous gift you enumerated was the gift of tongues. And this, it is sure, was claimed by the primitive Christians; for Irenaeus says expressly, 'We hear many in the church speaking with all kinds of tongues.' 'And yet,' you say, 'this was granted only on certain special occasions, and then withdrawn again from the Apostles themselves; so that in the ordinary course of their ministry they were generally destitute of it. This,' you say, 'I have shown elsewhere' (page 119). I presume in some treatise which I have not seen. 2. But Irenaeus, who declares that 'many had this gift in his days, yet owns he had it not himself.' This is only a proof that the case was then the same as when St. Paul observed long before, 'Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues?' (I Cor. xii.29-30). No, not even when those gifts were shed abroad in the most abundant manner. 3. 'But no other Father has made the least claim to it.' (page 120). Perhaps none of those whose writings are now extant-at least, not in those writings which are extant. But, what are these in comparison of those which are lost? And how many were burning and shining lights within three hundred years after Christ who wrote no account of themselves at all-at least, none which has come to our hands?Wesley's defense of the existence of tongues in history continues at considerable length, ending with the observation that the gift of tongues had been heard of within fifty years of their time, among the French Prophets. He wrote: Since the Reformation, you say, "this gift has never once been heard of or pretended to by the Romanists themselves" (page 122). But has it been pretended to (whether justly or not) by no others, though not by the Romanists? Has it "never once been heard of" since that time? Sir, your memory fails you again: it has undoubtedly been pretended to, and that at no great distance from our time or country. It has been heard of more than once no further off than the valleys of Dauphiny. Nor is it yet fifty years ago since the Protestant inhabitants of those valleys so loudly pretended to this and other miraculous powers to give much disturbance to Paris itself. And how did the King of France confute that pretence can prevent its being heard anymore? Not by the pen of his scholars, but by (a truly heathen way), the swords and bayonets of his dragoons.Wesley was undoubtedly aware of the presence and validity of the gift of tongues in his day, for Thomas Walsh, one of Wesley's foremost preachers, wrote in his diary on March 8, 1750, "This morning the Lord gave me language that I knew not of, raising my soul to Him in a wonderful manner." . . . Read the entire series by ordering your back issues of the Pneuma Review today. Write to Member Services. When the Pneuma Review asked author and church historian William De Arteaga about his upcoming book he said: My forthcoming book is entitled The Forgotten Power of the Lord's Supper In Revival. The core of the book is to present a biblical and historical argument that revivals do best when they incorporate sacramental worship, especially Eucharistic worship. I give several examples beginning with Solomon Stoddard and the Puritan sacramental revival in New England. Solomon Stoddard was Jonathan Edward's grandfather. He discovered that people who were under conviction, but had not come to assurance, could receive the grace of assurance by receiving Holy Communion. This use of the Lord's Supper evangelically is an interesting thing. The second example I give is the Scottish Communion Revivals of the 18th Century. These revivals were conducted in three or four day cycles. Thursday, for instance, would be declared a fast day. On Friday and Saturday, people would be brought to church where repentance would be preached and they would have an opportunity for confession. Then the pastor, who knew his people and knew they had repented, would hand out little metallic tokens as a sign that these people were in good standing. Then on Sundays, they would deposit these tokens on the Communion table, and very solemnly receive Communion. This was a very effective cycle of receiving Holy Communion, and it resulted in multiple revivals all throughout Scotland from the 1630's until the last ones were extinguished in the 1850's. The Second Great Awakening was triggered by these Scottish Presbyterian Communion services being held on the American frontier, from 1797 up until the Cane Ridge Revival [1801]. The Cane Ridge Revival was a joint communion service in the Presbyterian style, led by Presbyterians but also attended by Methodists and Baptists. At Cane Ridge you had all the manifestations, all of the screaming and the groaning for the Lord, the holy laughter, and the jerking. Yet it was also a communion cycle in the Scottish pattern. The next section of the book is a look at the Wesleyan revivals. I have really fallen in love with the Wesleyan pattern. I call the Wesleyan revivals the "Acts 2 revival." The Wesley brothers did everything right. They had anointed evangelical preaching and repentance. This produced the manifestations, the fallings, the screaming, and the laughter. They also recovered several sacramental forms of worship including the love feast and the covenant service on New Year's. Historians can now identify the Wesleyan Revival as the most effective revival in all of Christendom. And, as I said, it did indeed transform England and America. I end the book with a study of the Convergence Movement. I guess you could call it Wesley's dream worked out. The Convergence Movement is basically people who are Pentecostal, who preach evangelically, and incorporate more liturgy in their worship. This is a difficult attempt. There is a temptation to concentrate too much on the liturgy. I call this the Tractarian temptation, named after the 19th Century group that overemphasized liturgy. However, I think they are pulling it off. The Convergence churches, the CEC (Charismatic Episcopalian Church) and the CEEC (Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches), are doing something very significant and I am very impressed by them. Read the rest of the interview by ordering your back issues of the Pneuma Review today. Write to Member Services. From "Mayim Chayim: The Living Waters" by Kevin Williams In [ancient] Israel touching a dead person, a leper, a menstruating woman, or an unclean spirit, all had the biblical properties of rendering an individual unclean. Yet, we find Yeshua doing just this in the gospels time and again. Yeshua was and is the Living Waters and nothing could ever make Him unclean. As a source of Living Waters, none of these things that would render an ordinary man unclean, can overcome Yeshua's Mayim Chayim. In Matthew chapter 10, this same authority, this same overpowering Mayim Chayim, was instilled into the disciples. "Yeshua called his twelve disciples and gave them authority to drive out unclean spirits and to heal every kind of disease and weakness." That may be fine for them, but what about us? "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scriptures said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of Living Water.'" That means, the promise of Living Water is in us! We have the same authority and Spirit living inside us. Nothing of the unclean world can overcome us. We are a source of Mayim Chayim. Like the mikveh pools, unclean things do not defile us, we are free to worship the Almighty without barrier or concern of being accepted by Him. I am reminded of a personal experience several years ago. My sister-in-law was dying of AIDS related complications. Her parents asked me if I would go in and spend some time with her, to minister to her. I was somewhat fearful at first. I did not want to contract the unclean virus. But the Almighty reminded me that I am now a source of Living Waters, that I cannot be made unclean. With the Lord's strength, I spent time with my sister-in-law, and she committed her life to Yeshua! Three days later, she was gone. Fear nearly kept me away, but the Mayim Chayim poured out from me, and she is now with her Creator. What John the Baptist accomplished at the Jordan is crucial to our faith. Together Yeshua and John initiated the Messianic High Priesthood through mikveh, "to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:15). Yeshua could now begin the work of atonement, a work much greater than that of His Levitical brothers in the Temple (see Hebrews 7:11, 24; 8:6). Yeshua was to be the fulfillment of the shadow and rehearsal that the priests had been performing for centuries. We must also remember what is said in Matthew 3:11. John prophesied, "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, . . . He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." The relevance for the contemporary Christian, therefore, is that baptism is an external testimony of an internal change. The lessons of the mikveh and the Mayim Chayim show that we are now a source of Living Water on legs. We can go into the world, sharing this good news to an unclean world. Because this bubbles up from within us, nothing can defile the source. Nothing can render spiritually unclean the Holy Spirit's sanctifying presence within the believer. Read all of this important article by ordering back issues of the Pneuma Review today. Write to Member Services. "Just What is the Nature of the Prayer Language?" from the Praying in the Spirit Series by Robert Graves . . . Nowhere does Scripture mandate that tongues-speaking must be a foreign language. There are indications, however, that the nature of tongues is unintelligible, transcendent, and without natural counterpart. Certain verses in 1 Corinthians 14 simply make better sense if tongues are understood in this way. For example, 1 Corinthians 14:2: "Anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit." Without divine intervention, in other words, no one can understand an utterance in tongues. Yet if it were a foreign language, would not the utterance be recognizable by native speakers? "The interpretation of tongues demands a special gift of the Spirit . . . not a nationality" (Goudge, p. 134). Additionally, non-Pentecostal C. R. Smith notes that the foreign language interpretation of this verse ("For anyone who speaks in a language does not speak to men . . .") is contradictory, since "speaking to men" is what human language is for. On the other hand, the Pentecostal-charismatic (and the majority of non-Pentecostal) interpretation of this verse ("For anyone who speaks in a spiritual language speaks not to men but to God") is not contradictory, but reasonable (p. 31). The foreign language view leaves open the possibility of Christians or non-Christians exercising interpretation by natural means, whereas interpretation is a gift of the Spirit. Yet Paul does not envision the Corinthian congregation soliciting "translators" (Malatesta, p. 37); instead, he implies that only through divine intervention (1 Corinthians 14:13) does this ability come. The multilingual composition of Corinth as the port city further strengthens this point, for if an interpreter was needed there, surely the utterances were not merely human languages (Laurentin, p. 91). Read this chapter and series by ordering your back issues of the Pneuma Review. Write to Member Services for any back issue specials and how to order online. International Conference The Pneuma Foundation had a great opportunity to make some of its resources available at the recent General Assembly of the Asia Pacific Theological Society in Sydney, Australia. Pentecostal/charismatic educators from all over the Pacific Rim were introduced to the Pneuma Review as well as having a number of conference specials from Pneuma Biblical Resources and being invited to receive the Pneuma Informer. Dr. Wonsuk Ma, of Asia Pacific Theological Seminary in Baguio City, Philippines, said that "I personally thought that the presence of your material could not find a better place in Asia. I felt very positive about the whole thing." Special thanks to Dr. Ma for his assistance in making these resources available at this international gathering. If you have ever had the opportunity to minister outside of the US or Europe, you know how difficult it can be to come by any materials for Biblical teaching. Thanks to all who assisted in this endeavor. Prayer Requests Please pray that the directors of the Pneuma Foundation will find sponsors for our upcoming projects. Both volunteers and financial contributors are needed for some of our projects such as: a Student Writing Contest, opening a local bookstore, Pastor Conferences, and Theological Symposiums. The Pneuma Foundation is in need of a laser printer for publishing purposes. The model most desired by the editor committee costs about $800. Congratulations | |
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