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| The August 1999 Pneuma Informer |  |
In this Issue:
Excerpts from the Fall 1999 Issue (Volume 2, Number 4) of the Pneuma Review The Pneuma Review is a quarterly printed journal of ministry resources and theology for Pentecostal and charismatic ministries and leaders. The Fall 1999 issue of the Pneuma Review should be to all subscribers (in the U.S.) by the end of this week. Here is some of what you will find in this power-packed issue: From "Mayim Chayim: The Living Waters" by Kevin Williams [top] . . . Literally, the mikveh is identified as a collection of water, a pool of sorts, which has gathered by God's design. That is to say, there was no human intervention, no one dug a hole, no one collected water in jars to fill the pool. This collection of waters might be a river or a sea. The water source came about as part of the Almighty's plan, which gives it the nomenclature: Living Water. Genesis 1:9 speaks of the waters being "gathered together." The Hebrew term used here is mikveh, a source for Living Water. In Genesis chapter 7, we have the account of Noah's Flood, when the Most High chose Living Water as the vehicle to cleanse the earth. In Genesis 35:2, Jacob commands his household to destroy their idols and to "purify themselves." The Jewish sages understand this purification as none other than the mikveh. Virtually from the very beginning, this concept of the mikveh and Mayim Chayim plays and important role, a role which carries over into the rest of the Torah'the five books of Moses. In what parallels the "born again" experience of the modern Christian, Jewish theologians look at the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 14, as a mikveh. Certainly the sea qualifies as a pool of Living Waters, and the crossing of the Hebrews demonstrated not only God's immense provision, but likewise, a separation from that which defiled them, Egypt, and that which gave the nation of Israel new life, the crossing through the midst of the waters. Today, we are not far from that event ourselves. In 1 Cor. 10:1-3 we read, "For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Our immersion places us on the same shores as those Hebrews in Exodus 14. They were a redeemed people, now able to rest from slavery to Pharaoh. Soon, they would have God's instructions at Mt. Sinai. And then, they would be on their journey to the Promised Land. If this was true for them, then how much more so for us through the redemption of our High Priest, Yeshua the Messiah? We have been redeemed, washed clean, brought into rest from bondage, we are learning about God and His ways, and we are enroute to the eternal Promised Land! . . . There are some significant points here we should not miss. Throughout the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit and water are often found together, as in Genesis 1:2, "and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters." Passages such as Zechariah 12:10, "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication," and Isaiah 44:3, "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring," join water and the Spirit of God. No wonder then, that in Hebraic theology the Holy Spirit (Ruach haKodesh: The Breath/Wind of God) and the Living Waters are synonymous. The Prophet Joel (2:28, 29) wrote, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit." This passage plays a prominent role on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Shavuot). This last day, the great day of the feast, is the occasion when the Israelites would gather together in the Temple and pray for God to send the rains. They would read and declare the passages we have just mentioned: Zechariah 12:10, Isaiah 44:3, Joel 2:28, 29. It was at this festival that Yeshua spoke while standing in the Temple, "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Yeshua stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, "From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water."' But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Yeshua was not yet glorified" (John 7:37-39). . . . From an Interview with William De Arteaga [top] Pneuma Review: What unifying factors do you see within the charismatic movement? De Arteaga: I see three things that the Pentecostal and charismatic movements have given to Christendom. First an understanding that gifts of the Spirit are intended for both laymen and the clergy, and all believers should operate in one or more of the gifts of the Spirit. Secondly, a deeper appreciation of the person of Jesus. This is not obvious now, because we are in the midst of 80 or 90 years of spiritual renewal, but if you look at the devotional documents written prior to this century you can see that worship of the Father was more prominent. Directly worshipping Jesus as part of the God-head and the renewed emphasis on His Lordship are characteristics of this spiritual renewal. Thirdly, like all authentic Christian revivals, the charismatic renewal has reaffirmed the veracity of Scripture. We believe the Word of God to be intrinsically infallible. This is also a necessary characteristic because many main-line denominations have slipped sadly on this issue, some into absolute apostasy. . . . Answers to Questions: Should Mark 16:9-20 be in your Bible? [top] Mark 16:17-18 (KJV): "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover." ALLEGATION: Mark 9:16-17 is not in the best manuscripts. ANSWER: This statement is a misleading half-truth. It is true that the two Greek manuscripts (MSS) generally regarded as best, B and Aleph, omit Mark 16:9-20. However, these MSS by themselves do not constitute final authority on any manuscript question; all the manuscript (MS) data must be considered. Moreover, in both B and Aleph, this section of Mark has unusual characteristics that call the testimony of these MSS into question. . . . In all, a total of over 600 Greek MSS contain Mark 16:9-20. These MSS represent all of the recognized text-types: Alexandrian (Egypt), Eastern (Caesarea and Antioch), Western (Italy, Gaul, and North Africa), and Byzantine (Constantinople). "Such agreement is extremely rare in disputed passages," notes F.C. Cook, "and is the more remarkable since the list comprises copies of entirely different recensions, and of different ages from the fourth century downwards." . . . Mark 16:9-20 is preserved in versions of the Scriptures in languages from all over the ancient known world: Latin, Coptic, Egyptian, Syriac, Georgian, Armenian, Ethiopic. Critics have no satisfactory explanation of how this passage found its way into early MSS throughout the Mediterranean world, if it is a fraud. If Mark 16:9-20 is not authentic, it had to have been written a century or less after Mark was written. But what scribe would have had the audacity to add twelve verses to Mark's Gospel while Mark or one of his contemporaries was still living? . . . Book and Periodical Reviews [top] From the Guest Review by Jon Ruthven: The Kingdom and the Power: Are Healing and Spiritual Gifts Used by Jesus and the Early Church Meant for the Church Today? A Biblical Look at How to Bring the Gospel to the World with Power. Gary S. Greig and Kevin N. Springer, eds. Regal Books, 1993. 463 pp. Thirty years ago, when I graduated from a prominent evangelical divinity school, I prayed long and hard for a book like Kingdom and the Power to answer the objections that my seminary professors had raised against my Pentecostal experience. My parting shot from the seminary was a tutorial research paper that eventually evolved into my doctoral dissertation and later, book, On the Cessation of the Charismata. The cessationist professor read only about half of the project, assigned it a "B" and refused to dialog about its arguments and exegesis. At the same time, a close friend and fellow student with normally high grades, who is now the New Testament Professor at Edinburgh, fared even worse: he received a "C" on his thesis, "Signs and Wonders in the New Testament." There was little discussion on the ideas presented, aside from an assertion from one committee member to the effect that along with Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, Pentecostals should not have been allowed enroll at that school. Times have changed since the 60's. The shrinking proportion of evangelicals who still maintain that spiritual gifts have ceased with the apostles are much more willing to dialog—if only because increasingly they now find themselves in a theological Alamo, where there are constant defections and increasing apathy on the part of the defenders. In the last decades, the debate over the gifts of the Spirit has become much more sophisticated exegetically and theologically. Many non-charismatic evangelicals today seem to be more willing to receive, or at least read, the new exegetically-grounded works of Pentecostals and charismatics. . . . From a periodical review by Raul Mock: "Pentecostal Trends of the 90's" By Vinson Synan. Ministries Today (May/June 1999, Vol 17 No 3), pp. 60-64, 77. Leading church historian and theologian Vinson Synan gives an overview of the trends and directions the Pentecostal/charismatic movement have taken is the final decade of the Second Millennium. . . . After noting these trends, Synan offers some reflections upon them. He says, "Although manifestations are signs of revival, they are not the revival itself. Revival occurs when Holy Spirit convictions draw sinners to be converted and cause great change in society itself. It is my opinion that the experience called the baptism in the Holy Spirit, with the sign of tongues as the first evidence and all other charismata as confirming signs, has fueled the worldwide Pentecostal explosion. . . . We Pentecostals must not dilute our testimony and lose our power just to win the approval of noncharismatic evangelicals who want to count our numbers but do not wish to pay the spiritual price we paid in the beginning. Perhaps it's time to bring back the altar call, not only for salvation and deliverance, but for the baptism in the Holy Spirit" (p. 77). Prayer Requests [top]
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