Pentecostals

Ross Woods, 2022

The main premise of Pentecostalism is that God is supernaturally active in the world today. Some of their other key beliefs include the following:

  1. They interpret events as divine actions, especially “coincidences.”
  2. Worship is the people of God gathered for worship (Cf. esp. Psalms).
  3. They are strong on evangelism.
  4. God will act immanently (Something will happen very soon, such as a revival.)
  5. Church government
    1. Churches are often (but not always) episcopalian; the senior pastor has the power of a bishop. In some cases he/she is considered to have the anointing of the Spirit to be an apostle.
    2. Some are congregational.

Modern Pentecostals

The Pentecostal movement has changed dramatically in the last several decades. Many modern Pentecostals are now clearly orthodox and within the evangelical camp. For these, the premise of God's current activity is one of emphasis rather than doctrine.

  1. They are often theologically better educated than they once were.
  2. They are still enthusiastic and committed to tongues and other extroadinary gifts (e.g. healing).
  3. They are not divisive.
  4. They are often quite stable.
  5. They are often better at making pastors accountable.

Old Pentecostals

Old-style Pentecostals tended to believe:

  1. Academic knowledge is unspiritual.
  2. Enthusiasm is evidence of sprituality.
  3. Tongues is evidence of baptism in the Spirit.
  4. Although one has accepted Christ, the baptism of the Spirit is a “second blessing.”
  5. Many old-style Pentecostals were divisive, and criticized non-Pentecostals as “spiritualy dead.”

Problems

The Pentecostal movement often has these problems, some of which are dangerous or even heretical:

  1. Experience is given authority equal to or superior to Scripture. The focus is often on oneself, not on God.
  2. Members move between churches to get “the blessing.”
  3. Immorality
  4. The pastor’s role can be hereditary and a church can be the personal property of the pastor.
  5. Christian animism; some pastors are little more than shamans.
  6. Tongues is the only sign of the Holy Spirit.
  7. Prosperity Gospel: “When God blesses someone, he makes that person rich.”
    1. This can be manipulative: “If you are not getting rich, it is because you have a spiritual problem.”
    2. People try to appear wealthy so that others will believe God is blessing them.
  8. They guarantee healing; “God wants to heal you.” (This can be manipulative: “If you are sick, it is because you have sin in your life.”
  9. They seek unusual “manifestations of the spirit:”
    1. Fainting, called “slain in the Spirit”
    2. Laughing, called the Toronto blessing
    3. Vomiting
    4. Apparitions
    5. “Married in the Spirit”
    6. A young child who preached like an adult, but reverted to being a little child when finished.
  10. Use of allegorical terms to describe teaching, such as tabernacle typology and “news of the bride.” (Even when the teaching is not erroneous, the exegesis is not responsible.)
  11. The belief that “Our church is unique,” even when it is nearly identical to many other churches.
  12. They tend to multiply by schism. The leaders argue, and one leaves to start a new church or a new denomination.
  13. They depend on the size of the crowd to validate their spirituality, not the truthfulness of their teaching.
  14. Teaching
    1. There is little or no teaching.
    2. Authoritarian teaching. The teacher simply “tells” people what to believe and does not allow students to evaluate alternative views.
  15. The audacity to speak “in the name of God.”
  16. Preaching is based on whether it gets an enthusiastic response rather than its truthfulness.
  17. Intuitive knowledge:
    1. Some Pentecostals interpret the New Testament gift of knowledge to mean that God supernaturally gives them knowledge of something that they could not otherwise know.
    2. However, “I had a revelation that ...” or “The Lord told me ...” is sometimes simply Pentecostal language for “I suddenly realized that ...” or “I now know that ...”.
    3. It can be maniplulative, as when the preacher says, “God is speaking to somebody over on my left near the front about donating $100 to the ministry.”

The heretical version

The heretical version in the ancient church was Montanism (c. 150 .AD.), the idea that God kept giving revalations and visions that were superior to Scripture.

Although it has never been declared a heresy, it is quite wrong to believe that “Salvation comes through accepting the Holy Spirit.”