Origins of Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Movement

Origins of Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Movement Paul Fahy Copyright © Paul Fahy 1998 Published by Understanding Ministries 2 Contents Preface Page 4 The ‘Christian’ origins of the pentecostal experience Page 5 The secular origins of the pentecostal experience Page 75 Review of the distinctive features of Pentecostalism Page 85 Which is the counterfeit? Page 97 Why have so many good people been led astray? Page 98 Where is all this going? Page 99 Does this mean that the church must be lifeless? Page 101 Conclusion Page 102 Afterword Page 107 Appendices Historical survey Page 109 The roots of the slain in the ‘Spirit’ experience Page 115 The correlation of recent exotic manifestations Page 116 The Restorationist evolution view of Christian history Page 118 Critique of Azusa Street by Phineas Bresee (1906) Page 121 Page one of the first issue of ‘The Apostolic Faith’ Page 122 Bibliography Page 128 3 4 Preface With the rapid spread of extreme Charismatic practices seeming to swamp churches throughout the world; with the claim of God’s power being directly experienced in Charismatic groups; with condemnation (sometimes in violent language) being spoken against ordinary Christians who oppose the ‘strange fire’ of exotic manifestations; it is time to thoroughly evaluate the root and basis of these phenomena to see where they come from. Charismaticism clearly originates from Pentecostal sources, but where did the Pentecostal experiences come from? Charismatics see their origins with David Wilkerson and Dennis Bennett in the 1960’s, but this is simply Pentecostalism breaking out into other denominations, as Smith Wigglesworth foresaw. The emphasis in all groups is: a baptism in the Holy Spirit which leads to charismatic gifts, especially that of tongues. The only real difference is that the early Pentecostals believed tongues to be the initial evidence of the experience and also held perfectionist ideas; charismatics see tongues as a gift that usually evidences the baptism in the Spirit, but may not always be present at the first. Few would hold to perfectionist ideas. Recent developments in the Charismatic Movement, like an emphasis upon a baptism of fire, an acceptance of extreme manifestations like being slain in the Spirit, laughing, shaking etc., reveal how close it has come to the early Pentecostals. The main theological foundations of Pentecostalism were laid in the Holiness Movement which itself grew from a Wesleyan, Arminian base. Other, less well known, precursors however, are Edward Irving’s Apostolic Church, in Victorian England, which had all the extravagances of tongues, prophecy, wild behaviour and so on; and the earlier supposedly Christian, but in fact occultic sect, the Shakers. The key figures in the movement’s twentieth century beginnings were: William Seymour and Charles Parham. It will be necessary to evaluate all of these men and movements to come to a proper conclusion about the origins of the modern experience. But there is a further source to be examined. It is not pleasant for believers to consider this but it is a fact. The phenomena experienced in Pentecostal and Charismatic meetings throughout the world today have been around longer than Christianity itself. The world has not copied true religious manifestations, rather the reverse is the case. The sort of extremes found in modern Charismatic worship are found in occult sects like Wicca, pagan rites, kundalini yoga, false religions, Greek mystery cults and so on. These extremes have been practised, since the fall, by many groups. They occur when a person gives themself over to deep, but base, emotions, manipulated by demonic forces which can then appear to have religious significance. Sometimes, they can give rise to miracle powers, as seen in South American animistic worshippers today, who heal via totemistic spirits. Tongues, chanting, shouting, laughing, barking, falling in a spiritual ecstasy and so on, are all known to these groups. If there is any possibility that this root has influenced the Pentecostal experience, it must be evaluated. 5 Part One The ‘Christian’ Origins of the Pentecostal Experience Ancient outbreaks The incursion of a false religious spirit, which promoted ecstasies, has been around since the beginning. In fact, the biggest threat to God’s people in ancient Israel was syncretism 1 not warfare. Dangers posed by neighbouring Canaanite worship was signally expressed in warnings to Israel when God established her in the land of promise (Ex 23:23-25). This was because God had called Israel out from the typical religion of the surrounding nations, just as the church is called out from the world, she was to have no contact with false worship, which is spiritual harlotry (Jer 3:1-2; Ezek 16:15-59). 2 Sumeria This conflict between true and false religion is important and forms the keynote of the thesis proposed in this paper. After the flood, the progeny of Noah gradually settled in the Sumer region (later Babylonia) and it is now accepted that Sumeria was the cradle of all civilisations. It is from the original settlements in the Sumer area that travellers later established equally great civilisations elsewhere in: Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Greece and so on. Sumer is the fountainhead of race. It is not surprising, therefore, that the original Sumerian mythology formed the basis of the myths found in later cultures. Scholars have, for instance, established the close connection between Sumerian and Greek or even Oceanic mythology. As we will discover in the second part of this book, the ancient occultic false religion seen in Sumer, epitomised by the rebellion of Nimrod against the creator God (Yahweh), is the foundation of all later occultic religion, in all its assorted forms. As each society developed its own distinctive brand of religion, so varieties grew up built upon earlier liturgies, myths and cultus. Just as man’s physiognomy gradually changed as he settled in different climates (red, yellow, black, white skin), so his myths about creation and his worship systems altered, but it was all equally occult and ungodly. As we see later, these systems all incorporated varieties of passivity, ecstasy, wild behaviour, tongues and so on. 1 Syncretism is the mixture of true and false religion into a perverted hybrid. 2 The Greek word for church is ekklesia, the ‘called out ones’. 6 Sumer Later Religious Systems Civilisations Greek Myths Babylonian Zoroastrianism All other Religion religions Roman Myths Canaanite Cults The call of Abram In the very heart of Sumerian society, God does something special, he calls out a specific person from the great city of Ur and leads him away to form a new nation. Abram is not just called out to initiate a new culture, he called to obey God and avoid all contact with the false religious system he grew up with. The worship of Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, is incompatible with the worship of Sumerian deities, and the practices of the Mesopotamian cults are to be vigorously avoided. These practices include ecstatic rites, mesmerism, exotic actions, immoral fertility rites, dancing, shaking, animal noises, tongues, self-mutilation, human sacrifice etc. Religion, for newly named Abraham, was an emphasis upon faith in a substitutionary sacrifice, prayer and sober worship without outlandish behaviour. Jacob could worship as he simply leaned on his bed (Gen 47:31) and worship was frequently just outwardly expressed in bowing (Gen 24:26; Ex 4:31). Abraham’s religion grows into the faith of the nation Israel and she is called to be distinct from the surrounding nations. Throughout her history, she failed to obey this command. Time after time the nation went after other gods. King after king introduced false religions, into Israel and Judah, and was judged. One pivotal Old Testament moment was Elijah’s fearless stand for Yahweh on Mount Carmel. Why is he one of Israel’s greatest heroes? Because he defeated the priests of Baal, the chief Canaanite god of storms and nature. Elijah’s faith in Yahweh epitomises the distinctiveness and superiority of God over the false occult religions of the Ancient Near East. Throughout the history of Israel, false spirituality attacks the true faith time after time by syncretistic activity - mixture. Israel’s repeated failure to avoid this is called harlotry by God and leads to judgment. There has never been a time when occult religion did not seek to gain an entrance into a partnership with true faith. The faith embraced by Abraham and the covenant he had with God is focused upon his seed, which Galatians explains is Christ himself (Gal 3:16). The church which Christ founded and is building today, is a society called out from the occult religions surrounding it. This was as true for 1st century believers who resisted the madness of Roman Emperor worship, and died for it, as it was for the second century’s resistance of occult Gnosticism, re-appearing today as New Age beliefs. Even in the New Testament we find the apostles 7 warning believers to shun the false religious inroads into Christianity before 100 AD (Jude 4,11-13; 1 Jn 4:1ff, 2:18-19). True Christianity is a fight against a spiritual enemy, whose subtlety is to camouflage his appearance so that he is sometimes welcomed in (2 Cor 10:3-6, 11:14-15)! Sumerian ABRAM Religion attack False Israel Occult m m Faiths [syncretism] attack Satan's CHRIST m m temptations attack Modern The Occult Church m m Sects [ aberrations and heresy ] The history of Israel is thus a picture and a warning to us to avoid syncretism with occult religion. We will see that, as time progresses in church history, individuals and groups have ignored this warning and the incursions of the occult into church life have increased more and more, up to modern times, where the occult invasion is now in the ascendancy.

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