New Claimants To Spiritual Gifts

by G. Prasher, Jr., Lagos, Nigeria | Category: General | Apr 1966

Methodists, Anglicans, Baptists, Brethren, so it is claimed, are among the denominations into which have overflowed certain manifestations normally associated with the "Pentecostal" groups. At least two of the nine spiritual gifts enumerated in 1 Corinthians 12.8-10 are given special prominence in these claims - the gift of prophecy and the gift of tongues. Not so much seems to be said about the gifts of healings, and there is virtual silence about the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. Christian believers are rightly concerned to examine these widening manifestations. Are they similar to the established pattern of manifestations among the "Pentecostal" groups? On what doctrinal foundation do leaders of these new movements base their experiences?

As for speaking in tongues, the experiences claimed do appear to be similar to those of the traditionally "Pentecostal" groups. But there is a studied emphasis on more careful control of such manifestations. Disorderliness and noisiness are deprecated. There is an attempt to harmonize the expression of the gift with the more conservative traditions of worship in these long-established denominations. Since there appears to be nothing distinctive in the type of manifestation associated with this widening experience of speaking in tongues, we may reasonably conclude that what has been known among "Pentecostal" groups over the past half century is now being reproduced among others. The disciple of the Lord Jesus will be anxious to examine the doctrinal foundation of this new development. The teachings of the "Pentecostal" groups about the Holy Spirit are open to serious criticism. Has there been any change of doctrinal ground with those more recently claiming miraculous gifts? If so, wherein do their doctrines differ? The only safe criterion in assessing the value of these manifestations is the word of God. Do the experiences claimed conform with what we know of manifestations of the Holy Spirit in New Testament times? Do these experiences lead towards a clearer appreciation of God's will for believers in our time?

The believer is justified in approaching this subject with a healthy prejudice against such manifestations, because there have been many claimants to supernatural gifts during the past half century who have been thoroughly discredited. They have claimed apostolic powers and miraculous gifts, but their doctrines have been demonstrably false and their achievements do not measure up to the New Testament counterpart. If new claimants to such spiritual gifts are to establish their case, we may justifiably expect that the Holy Spirit will lead them to a clearer appreciation of divine truth for God's children, and that their experiences will be unquestionably identical with those of New Testament believers.

Doctrinal Confusion more Confused!

Teachings regarding the work of the Holy Spirit have been confused in Pentecostal circles for many years. While various groups claim in common the exercise of supernatural gifts, their doctrinal views vary considerably. This is not merely a matter of careless terminology. It is fundamental error regarding the work of the Spirit in the believer. A few examples may be helpful:

(i)Some groups have claimed that one cannot be truly saved unless there is an experience of "Spirit baptism" marked by speaking in tongues.

(ii)Many groups hold that although born again on receiving Christ, the believer must then seek "the baptism of the Holy Spirit".

(iii)Most groups have taught that "the baptism of the Holy Spirit" is marked by speaking in tongues, even though the gift of tongues may not necessarily follow as a permanent endowment.

We do not understand any of these three propositions to be Scriptural. Believers of the present dispensation, we believe, are baptized by the Lord in the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ at the moment of believing in Him as Saviour (1 Corinthians 12.12). The Word does not enjoin that after knowing he is saved the believer should strive and pray for a "second blessing" by which he will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. "Tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to the unbelieving" (1 Corinthians 14.22). It is a fallacy to think that speaking in tongues is an essential sign of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. All those in the church in Corinth had been baptized in the Holy Spirit but all had not the gift of tongues.

What then of the "new Pentecostalism"? Here emerge some distinct changes of doctrine in certain respects. After hearing for years from "Pentecostal" teachers that speaking in tongues is at least the initial sign of baptism in the Holy Spirit, we are now told that this is not necessarily the case at all! To quote from one leader's writings:

"Many people ask the question, 'Must I speak in tongues when I am baptized in the Holy Spirit?' I would suggest that it is the wrong kind of question to ask. The answer is clearly-no."

"A further question which is even more often asked is, 'Can I receive the baptism in the Spirit without speaking in tongues?' The honest answer is that it is possible to receive this blessing and not at the same time to speak in tongues."

This makes confusion more confused! For here are claimants to the same experiences, yet they fundamentally differ in doctrines which govern those experiences.

The new exponents of spiritual gifts are as confused as their predecessors as to the fact of the Holy Spirit in the believer.

"Receiving the Holy Spirit is a definite, clear-cut, instantaneous

experience. Your experience of salvation should include or lead to a definite receiving of the Spirit. If it doesn't, you and the Church should pray that you do receive the Holy Spirit."

This quotation suggests that the believer may or may not receive the Holy Spirit upon acceptance of Christ as Saviour, but the Word of God says,

"Know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God?" (1 Corinthians 6.19):

and again,

"But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Romans 8.9).

Then we are being told that manifestations which were for many years acclaimed by Pentecostal groups as sound accompaniments of certain spiritual gifts are in fact quite wrong!

"I consider it heresy to speak of shaking, trembling, dancing, shouting, and such like actions as manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

These are purely human reactions to the power of the Holy Spirit."

The thoughtful believer cannot but find all this deeply disturbing. It is a fact that many who do not share the believer's faith in Christ as the Son of God, or trust His redeeming sacrifice, have claimed manifestations (such as speaking in tongues) which bear striking resemblance to those claimed by certain evangelical believers. It is equally true that evangelicals of the "Pentecostal" groups which have long claimed the enjoyment of spiritual gifts have been inconsistent in their teachings. Now we are faced with a widening of these manifestations with yet another set of doctrinal variations. Little wonder then if many believers are most apprehensive about these new claims!

An Artificial Inducement of Speaking in Tongues

Did any believers in New Testament days have to wait and strive and cry over a long period to experience the fulness of the Holy Spirit or to speak in tongues? No! When in the Spirit's sovereignty He chose to grant that some should speak in tongues, it is always presented in Scripture as gratuitously poured out (Acts 2.1-4; 10.44; 19.6). Suspicion is bound to arise if modern claimants to spiritual gifts advocate an approach which is out of harmony with that principle. Hear then the advice of one leader of the "new Pentecostalism" as to speaking in tongues:

"In order to speak in tongues, you have to quit praying in English ... you simply lapse into silence and resolve to speak not a syllable of any language you have ever learned. Your thoughts are focused on Christ. And then you simply lift up your voice and speak out confidently, in the faith that the Lord will take the sound you give Him, and shape it into a language. You take no thought of what you are saying. As far as you are concerned it is just a series of sounds. The first sounds will sound strange and unnatural to your ear, and they may be halting and inarticulate (have you ever heard a baby talk?)."

Surely this is most unscriptural counsel? Here is a studied passivity, an artificial inducement of a state in which control is yielded to unknown influences. This does not savour of the Spirit of God. It could at best lead to a build-up of psychological tension which might find release in ecstatic utterance; it could at worst invite the attention of deceiving spirits which can most certainly cause people to speak in tongues, a subtle and spurious imitation of the experience described in the Scriptures.

A Means towards Interdenominational Union

As spiritual manifestations spread more widely among long-established denominations, do they result in a clearer appreciation of God's will for the believer? If the Holy Spirit were uniquely visiting these denominations in granting genuine spiritual gifts, one would expect a considerable exodus from them in obedience to the word of God. For how will Spirit-filled men of God still adjust their consciences in regard to the wide range of unscriptural teachings and practices in many of the denominations? Would there not be stirred by the Spirit a conviction to separate and seek out the way of God more perfectly? It would appear that just the opposite effect largely obtains. Many who claim a renewal of spiritual gifts are hailing their experiences as a means of promoting the ecumenical movement towards union in one great religious fraternity! To quote a typical extract:

"This new movement of the Spirit is making an important contribution to the Ecumenical Movement. In Theodore 0. Wedell's book, The Coming Great Church, one section is entitled 'the Catholic Protestant chasm' ... this movement is helping to narrow and bridge the gap... In America those affected by the Holy Spirit's power are drawn from very different theological backgrounds. In its initial stages it was the more Catholic wing which was affected, but now the Evangelicals are being touched. When this happens, a unity of fellowship is achieved in the Holy Spirit which decades of 'conversations' could never bring about... Thus the Vicar of an Anglo Catholic Church in North America writes:

'We experience so much of what you write in the overflow of love between Christians of many traditions. In the last month I have heard the confessions of a United Church girl, and a Baptist woman who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit immediately afterwards... we had a Salvation Army Major helping us as we prayed with someone... the Lord showed us that we were like the old seidlitz powders that had to be mixed together, and then effervesced with great bubbling and sparkling!'

This is a miracle of the Holy Spirit."

The enquirer may well ask how this could possibly be of the Holy Spirit at all, let alone a miracle. Special manifestations are said to have followed an Anglo-Catholic confessional! Two women were affected. We are asked to believe that the elements of ecstatic excitement involved were the Holy Spirit's means of unifying people so diverse in their understanding of God's word. Such reasoning is palpably false. It makes the experiences claimed appear suspect in the opinion of all who have learned that obedience to God's word leads to separation from the ecumenical movement into churches of God, which stand in united witness to the whole counsel of God for our time. To link the "new Pentecostalism" with the ecumenical trend is to mark it out as working against God's declared purpose that believers should be united in His house. II others are misled by the new mushrooming of spiritual manifestations, those in the house of God should be able to see this trend in clear scriptural perspective.

Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ

There is a tendency towards unbalanced emphasis on the place of spiritual gifts in relation to the Body of Christ. Admittedly the granting of gifts is associated with the risen Head of the Body in certain passages, and the gifts are for the "building up of the Body of Christ". Nevertheless it is misleading to divorce this truth from its New Testament setting and to elevate it as a consideration which overrides the truths of 'the churches of God, the house of God and the kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus had enunciated the principles of the kingdom of God (Acts 1.14) before the mysteries of the Body were revealed (Ephesians 3.1-6). The latter were intended to amplify and strengthen the former. It is not permissible to allow truths touching the Body to belittle truths vital to corporate testimony for God. In the divine plan spiritual gifts bestowed by the risen Head upon members of the Body were to be used for the advance of God's purposes in making disciples, baptizing them, and bringing them together into churches of God. They were a means to an end, not an end in themselves. Believers who suggest a looseknit association of Christians who claim spiritual manifestations, as a substitute for unity of disciples in churches of God, are missing the mark as to God's revealed plan for Christian association, worship and witness.

"Prove all Things"

Truth as to the Holy Spirit in the believer is greatly needed today. It is vital to appreciate such foundation facts as baptism in the Holy Spirit, being sealed with the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit and the fulness of the Spirit. Believers tend readily to run after teachers who claim that miraculous spiritual gifts have been renewed, because they long for spiritual power amidst the withering effects of modern apostasy. Yet we must prove all things! If genuine spiritual gifts were to be renewed would they not be accompanied by a marked return to God's word? Might we not expect at least a clearer understanding of truths regarding the Holy Spirit in the believer? Spurious manifestations abound in association with wrong teachings. The Lord Himself warned of the powers which some false claimants to such gifts might exercise (Matthew 7.21-27), and through Paul (1 Timothy 4.1) and John (1 John 4.1) there were similar warnings. "Take heed that no man lead you astray"!

G. Prasher, Jr., Lagos, Nigeria | Apr 1966
General