Encountering the Vineyard/ Gerry Breshears

THIRD WAVE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The deadness and failure of the evangelical church today brings frustration and sadness to all who love Christ and His gospel. Listen to the cry of a pastor from the Midwest who felt the failure of the church deeply and personally:

For some time now, I have been dissatisfied with the church.Even though God has given me success in seeing a church grow(from 200 to 2000) in eight years, I am sick of seeing and working with people whose sole goal in life is learning "Bible knowledge" -- which usually means learning facts fromthe Bible.

We saw close to 500 families become Christians, but within a few years something happened. Many developed lead bottoms and came to church with a "feed me" attitude. I began to see that I had to change what I was doing. I was killing people with the Word! Isn't that something? They were suffering from the disease of "Scripturitis."1

I am very aware of failure of church today. These questionshaunt me. How can I know the presence of God today? How does God demonstrate His presence in the world today? What is the basis for revival in the church today? How can I recognize God at work in renewing the church?

The people from the Vineyard say they doing it. Are they? What is the Vineyard movement and what are they saying?

They raise very significant questions about how to show God to a non-Christian society. They challenge me to think about these questions by proposing some very different answers than I normally give. They have challenged me to think how real is God for us, how will we know His presence and power, what we can expect from Him, what is His power in evangelism and ministry, does God do the same sorts of acts today that He did in biblical times? What role do supernatural signs and wonders play in our life today? Ought we expect God to heal so people will believe?THE THREE WAVES OF THE SPIRIT1 ?John Wimber, "Introduction" in Power Encounters (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988) ed. Kevin Springer, p. xxvii.

SIGNS AND WONDERS -- PAGE November, 1989

C. Peter Wagner described the Spirit's working in the twentieth century in terms of three waves. The common bond between these three waves is acceptance of the gifts of the Spirit as authentic and legitimate ministries in the church todayand an openness to the signs and wonders which characterized the early church.2

The movement traces its roots from the revival under Edward Irving in London in 1830.3 Beginning in 1840 the holiness movement in the United States began to use John Fletcher's description of the Wesleyan second blessing of entire sanctification as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Oberlin College under Asa Mahan4 adopted this language following the Civil War as did many in the Keswick higher life movement under teachers such as R. A. Torrey5 and Andrew Murray.6 By the turn of the century Pentecostal language was widespread in the holiness and Keswick movements, second experiences were common, but without tongues or other Pentecostal manifestations.7

2 ?Sylvan, Vinson, In The Latter Days (Ann Arbor: ServantBooks, 1984), p. 20. 3 ?Gordon Strachan, The Pentecostal Theology of Edward Irving (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1973). 4 ?Asa Mahan, The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, published in1870.5 ?R. A. Torrey, Baptism in the Holy Ghost (London: JamesNisbet & Co., 1895) and The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit (New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1910). 6 ?Andrew Murray, The Full Blessing of Pentecost (New York: --------, 1985). 7 ?It should be noted that many in the Holiness and Keswick renewal movements bitterly rejected Pentecostalism in general and tongues in specific. Critiques often branded the


The influence of the twentieth century Pentecostal and charismatic movements is shown in the following facts.8 1) The fastest growing denominations in the world are those associated with the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement. 2) The largest family of Protestants in the world are those known as the Classical Pentecostals. 3) The three largest Protestant congregations in the world are Pentecostal churches. 4) Practically every congregation of all denominations have some members who identify with the charismatic movement. 5) The leading popular preachers in the "electronic church" are well-known Pentecostal/charismatic figures.

PENTECOSTALClassic Pentecostalism, the first wave, began on the first

day of the twentieth century, when Agnes Ozman, a student at Charles Parham's Bethel Bible School in Topeka, Kansas asked the other students and teachers to pray that she be baptized in the Holy Spirit. She expected to speak in tongues and was not disappointed. One of Parham's students, William Seymour preachedthe Pentecostal experience at a black holiness church on Azusa Street and the revival began. Pentecostalism was characterized by radical conversion, a holy life of separation from the world, the experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a second or third stage working in the life of the believer evidenced by the initial speaking in tongues, glossolalia. All the gifts of the Spirit are experienced in the normal life of the church. It stated with store front missions and small churches among poor people. Pentecostal denominations such as the Assemblies of God,the Church of God in Christ, the Church of the Four Square Gospel, the United Pentecostal Church and the Pentecostal Holiness Church soon formed. It was often separatistic in its life style and generally fundamentalistic in doctrine, in

movement demonic. G. Campbell Morgan designated the movement "the last vomit of Satan."8 ?Synan, pp. 21-22.


opposition to the liberalism of the day. The style of worship was typically emotional and noisy and often involved expressions of worship which seemed bizarre to those from the evangelical andmainline denominations who dismissed them as sectarian and holy rollers. The worship forms included not only mass prayer in tongues, but also being slain in the Spirit, frenzied spiritual dance, casting out of demons.9 The movement soon spread throughout the world.10

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an experience in which Christians receive the Third Person of the Trinity. The initial evidence is always speaking in tongues. Christians who have not spoken in tongues have not received the Spirit. They usually affirm that the baptism will be an empowering for service. Some say that it will be preceded or accompanied by entire sanctification.

CHARISMATIC

The second wave, Neo-Pentecostalism, or the charismatic movement, originated about 1960.11 The general prosperity of thefifties raised the socio-economic level of Pentecostals while Oral Roberts brought it to the living rooms of millions through

9 ?It should be noted that many of these elements no longer characterize Pentecostal churches. They have been transformed by the second wave so that in practice they are virtually indistinguishable from charismatic churches in the Calvary Chapel tradition. Many still retain their doctrinal distinctives, especially tongues as the initial evidence of the Spirit's baptism.10 ?Synan, p. 54, quotes the aphorism, "In the early days, the critics said that the Pentecostal movement would blow over ina few years -- and it did, it blew all over the world."11 ?Richard Quebedeaux, The New Charismatics II. New York:Harper and Row, 1983 is an excellent discussion of the movement.


his television ministry.12 Begun in 1950, the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship brought Pentecostalism to the workplace and wealthy business leaders while David du Plessis brought it tothe World Council of Churches in 1954.

The beginning of the movement is usually dated from Dennis Bennett's April 3, 1960 testimony to St. Mark's Episcopal Parish,recounting the respected, sophisticated rector's Pentecostal baptism. He was banished to St. Luke's, a small inner-city parish in Seattle which soon grew to be the largest parish in theNorthwest. The movement soon expressed itself within all the mainline protestant denominations as well as Roman Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Much of the legalism, the separatistic spirit, as well as the second blessing holiness theology with long periods of tarrying for sanctification before receiving the baptism of the Sprit were left behind. It spawned a whole repertoire of praise choruses as well as the small group movement for personal growth and accountability.

It is unified with the classical Pentecostal churches by theexperience of Holy Spirit baptism and all the charismata used personally and corporately in the body of the church. In contrast to the classical Pentecostal two baptism theology where Spirit baptism comes after water baptism and evidenced with tongues, neo-Pentecostalism teaches an organic view of the Pentecostal experience. The baptism of the Spirit is understood as coming at initiation and often identified with water baptism.

The second wave speaks of "being baptized in the Holy Spirit" rather than "the baptism of the Holy Spirit," as classic Pentecostals do. They emphasize the dynamic process of experiencing the presence of the Spirit. The subsequent manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit are seen as a release or

12 ?Roberts was originally an obscure minister of the Pentecostal Holiness Church. He founded the first Christian university in 1965 and was ordained by the United Methodist Church in 1969. The best study available is David Harrell, Oral Roberts: An American Life (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985).


actualization of the Spirit who is present from the initiation ofthe Christian life. The Catholic edition of The Life in the Spirit Seminars says, "[Being baptized in the Holy Spirit] is notour first reception of the Holy Spirit, but a release of his owner that is already within us through baptism and confirmation."13

Tongues are viewed as a prayer language which enhances personal worship rather than as necessary evidence of Spirit baptism. The charismatic movement resulted in a more evangelicalapproach to such things as God, the Bible, and new birth even in liberal denominations.

VINEYARD

The Third Wave shifted the emphasis from the experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues as its evidence, to physical healing and casting out of demons as the evidence of the presence of the kingdom of God. The power of Godis seen in terms of the mission of the church -- to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to make Him known and to bring people into relation with Him, into maturity in Him.

They do not now use language such as the baptism of the HolySpirit or being baptized in the Spirit. According to Wimber "Instead, they speak of 'being filled with the Holy Spirit' or, as I prefer to say, "empowered by the Holy Spirit.'"14 An encounter with the Holy Spirit is an important step in the process of spiritual growth, but only one step. "So while members of the Third Wave describe and initial, dramatic encounter with the Holy Spirit (what is called a life-changing experience), they also see the need for continual fillings."15

This difference is significant enough that members of the Pentecostal and charismatic movements have questioned the legitimacy of calling the Vineyard movement a third wave. Opal 13 ?Quoted by John Wimber in Power Encounters, ed. Kevin Springer, p. 213.14 ?Wimber in Power Encounters, pp. 213-214.15 ?Ibid., p. 214.


Reddin edited a book which seriously questions the Vineyard practice of casting demons out of Christians.16 Dennis Bennett, charges that the Vineyard movement puts down the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements, dismissing their beliefs as a mistake. hewarns, "Don't let any wave wash away the blessing of Pentecost."17

The Vineyard accentuates such gifts as the word of knowledge, miraculous knowledge of information about other persons or situations, as sign of the presence of the power of God.

POWER ENCOUNTER

The third wave movement stresses the visible, powerful encounter between principalities and powers. They are convinced that the more we tune into the power of supernatural signs and wonders, especially the power of divine healing, the more rapidlywe will complete the task of world evangelism.

The Christian God works miracles, miracles which are greaterthat the power of any pagan gods. Category B Signs -- miraculoushealings, raising the dead, casting out demons, and the like -- are what open unsaved people's hearts to the message of the gospel by making the power of God visible. Supernatural signs confirm the truth of the gospel and the goodness of God.

This emphasis led to the titles of John Wimber's first two books, Power Evangelism and Power Healing. Wimber defines power evangelism as "spontaneous, Spirit-inspired, empowered presentation of the gospel that is preceded and undergirded by supernatural demonstrations of God's presence."18 It includes words of knowledge, healing, prophecy and deliverance from evil spirits. "In power evangelism, the recipient's resistance to the16 ?Reddin, Opal. Power Encounter: A Pentecostal Perspective. Springfield, MO: Central Bible College Press, 1989.17 ?Dennis Bennett, "A Second Look at the Third Wave," Ministries Today, July/August, 1989, p. 8.18 ?John Wimber, Power Evangelism, p. 35.


gospel is overcome by the demonstration of God's power in supernatural events, and his or her receptivity to Christ's claims is often greatly enhanced."19

INAUGURATED ESCHATOLOGY

Vineyard thinking is closely associated with a theology of the Kingdom of God emphasizing the inauguration of the Kingdom. Following the biblical pattern, kingdom is defined in terms of authority, rather than physical realm, as it is in English. There are two key components. First, royal reign, kingly rule, exercise of authority. Second is the realm and subjects of that reign. A study of the teaching of Jesus or an epistle such as Colossians 1 shows us that kingdom is a active concept, moving, invading, overcoming the power of Satan. In this sense, kingdom can be defined as the dynamic activity of the sovereign God to manifest His authority in His sin-alienated creation, by redeeming it from the domain of evil, judging the enemies, and bestowing the blessings of His beneficent reign on and through His people to the praise of His glory.

Inaugurated eschatology emphasizes that this triumphal program has already begun. People who join with Jesus in His kingdom join the battle which He is waging with the world, the flesh and the devil. Following the understanding of Matthew 11:12, the kingdom is forcefully advancing and forceful people join in its advance.20

Don Williams' Signs and Wonders and the Kingdom of God 21 is the most current statement of this point. His point is this: If19 ?Wimber, "Discovering New Power for Evangelism," Pastoral Renewal, September, 1986, p. 420 ?We must be careful of speaking of the kingdom of God as invading. The power of God is already here in the Holy Spirit. Jesus already has all authority and has given it to His disciples.

21 ?Ann Arbor: Servant, 1989.SIGNS AND WONDERS -- PAGE

November, 1989

the Kingdom of God is truly present, if God truly reigns, His power cannot be limited to a spiritual realm; it will show itselfin every arena, including creation. The biblical miracles, including all Jesus' works of healing and deliverance, are not extraordinary. They are normal results of God's powerful presence, demonstrating the presence of the kingdom.

Drawing from such key passages as Matt. 10:1,8; 12:28; Mark 16:17; Luke 10:9; Eph. 6:12, those in the third wave find the connection between miracles and the presence of God's kingdom.

Jesus' ministry of signs and wonders is fundamental to the preaching of the kingdom of God. Jesus taught what the kingdom was like through his parables (Mark 4:11,12,26,30, etc.). Jesus showed what the kingdom was like through his miracles (Luke 11:20). The parables are verbal proclamations about the kingdom of God. The miracles were visible manifestations of the kingdom of God.22

Every time someone turns to Christ in repentance, finding forgiveness and eternal life, the kingdom of God is extended. Every time Jesus heals, casts out demons, preventsdestruction or raises the dead, the kingdom of God is advanced. Every healing or deliverance in the name of Jesusis a curbing of the enemy's powers and the frontiers of darkness are pushed back. Speaking of his approaching deathand triumph through the cross, Jesus said, 'now the prince of this world will be driven out.' (John 12:31). The process of 'driving out' still continues today. We are meant to be actively involved in it.

The coming of the kingdom of God finds its verificationin conversions to God's side, in the driving out of demons and inthe healing of diseases, etc. As demons are driven out, the message of Jesus and his disciples is vindicated. The healings and deliverances are signs of the power and confirmations of the truth of their ministry.23

22 ?David Pytches, Spiritual Gifts in the Local Church (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1985), p. 20.


POWER OF A WORLD VIEW

The spokesmen of the Third Wave, people such as Charles Kraft and C. Peter Wagner of Fuller Seminary's School of World Mission, believe that a Western, technological world view has prevented many people from recognizing the power of the spiritualrealm in everyday life. This Western mind-set biases people against perceiving supernatural phenomena. Westerners scorn things such as demons, witches, sorcerers, curses, fetishes, mediums, spiritists as results of superstition. Third wave spirituality believes in the reality of these and also the reality of God's power in this same realm.

They correctly call us to return to a world view with a powerful faith in the God who can do anything and entrusted us with a gospel which is inescapably supernatural.

"Since the 18th Century Enlightenment, thought, Westerners have worshiped science almost as a religion. . . . But today, with the millennium in sight, the powerful countertrend of the religious revival is repudiating blind faith in science and technology."24

They reject decisively the secularistic, materialistic worldview of Western world. Wimber does well to contradict the secular world view "that leaves no room for a personal God, as well as the outlook of classical liberalism that limits God's actions to the realm of inner perception" (Wacker, p. 17). It also challenges the world view of the animist that spirits are incharge.

Rather than explaining events in terms of a closed system ofnatural forces, becoming functional deists, third wave thinkers insist on keeping God on the throne of the universe. Timothy Warner suggests that we say it this way:

This is a God-created world. There is a law built into it that says if you do things God's way, you get God's results;

23 ?Pytches, Spiritual Gifts in the Local Church, p. 21-22.24 ?John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene, Megatrends 2000 (NewYork: William Morrow and Company, 1990), p. 272.


if you do things your way, you get your results. And God has enabled us to understand that his creation was made so that if we put this and this together, then we get God's results.25

Secularization is the acid rain of spirit, the atmospheric cancer of the mind and imagination. Vented into the air by . . .computer terminals, marketing techniques and management insights,it is washed down in the rain, shower by shower, the deadliest destroyer of religious life the world has ever seen. . . . Nothing is left to human spontaneity or divine intervention.26

Those who begin from a secularistic world view will exclude the possibility of divine causation from their list of possible explanations of an event. They will go to almost any extreme to explain things in terms of natural law, for to do otherwise wouldviolate the basic tenet of their world view.

They find this not just in secularists, but in evangelicals as well:

Their burden is that evangelicals have been profoundly unbelieving and that only a fundamental shift of belief can rescue them from dead orthodoxy. Skepticism about signs andwonders (faith healing, deliverance from demons, and 'words of knowledge,' particularly) is seen as functional unbelief;only a church that views such wonders as its birthright can claim to fully experience the lordship of Christ.27

WORSHIP

The Vineyard emphasizes worship at every point of their work. They emphasize immediate, personal response to God.

Worship must be more than three songs, announcements,

25 ?Timothy Warner, "The Holy Spirit: God at Work," Christianity Today, March 18, 1990, p. 29.26 ?Os Guinness, The Grave Digger's File (Downer's Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1983), p. 61.27 ?Tim Stafford, Christianity Today, November 17, 1989, p. 35.


offering followed by the doxology and a sermon. "To an age whichhas banished God to the margins of life, it offers the transforming power of worship and the daily looking for God's awesome, intervening presence."28

Anyone acquainted with the Vineyard materials knows the power of revival thinking. Expectation of revival coming from God's present, indwelling power in His people permeates their thinking. Lloyd John Ogilvie speaks of his breakthrough under the teaching of Dr. James Stewart, professor of New Testament at Edinburgh. He delivered a moving lecture on the indwelling of Christ, speaking of Christ as our living contemporary and our lives as His post resurrection home. He concluded

If we could but show the world that being committed to Christ is no tame, humdrum, sheltered monotony -- but the most exciting adventure the human spirit can know -- those who have been standing outside the church and looking askance at Christ will come crowding in to pay allegiance, and we may well expect the greatest revival since Pentecost.29

Like Ogilvie, those in the Vineyard see Christ more than a historical figure described in the pages of the Bible or aloof inheaven. He is a living contemporary whose promises are as true today as they ever were.

Spirituality grips Americans. But many do not find that in church. A 1988 Gallup poll showed that 59% complain that their churches or synagogues are too concerned with organizational as opposed to theological or spiritual issues. Despite the fact that 94% of Americans believe in God, 84% believe in the divinityof Christ (up from 78% in 1978), only 43% attend church weekly. The figure drops to 35% on the west coast and even less in the Northwest.

28 ?Tim Stafford, Christianity Today, November, 17, 1989, p. 36.29 ?Quoted by Lloyd John Ogilvie, Why Not Accept Christ's Healing and Wholenss, (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1985, pp. 18-19.


"The way religion is presented traditionally has spoken to our inner selves less and less. People want a living, feeling experience of spirituality."30 The complaint, articulated by a new ager, can also be heard from people in mainline and evangelical churches.

Most of us are quite unwilling to be embarrassed for God. Consider what it would be like to be Ezekiel marching around the city. Consider what it was like to be a disciple when Jesus cleansed the Temple. Consider the reputation of the 120 on the day of Pentecost. Because of what God did in them, they were dismissed as drunk.

How willing are we to deal with embarrassing things in orderto follow God. Whether or not you agree with Wimber's practices,you have to admit that his willingness to do embarrassing things for God surpasses most of ours.

There are three parts to the typical Vineyard service. The first part is ministering worship to God over a prolonged period of time -- forty five minutes is typical. The second part is allowing God to minister to the congregation through the exposition of the Word and through prophecy. The third part is people ministering to each other through prayer and the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit. This is the part where "sign and wonders" most typically occur.

Wimber refuses the proposal to have less Scripture and more signs and wonders. His answer is placing our confidence in Scripture more firmly. But we must not forget "the purpose and goal of our study, when the mere accumulation of information about God replaces a relationship with God, we run the risk of falling into legalism." Christians must not be "satisfied with merely studying about God, they want to know him and to be fully known by him."31

Spontaneous worship typifies the Vineyard services. The initial section of the service is singing lead by several people using contemporary instruments. They sing only worship songs 30 ?Quoted in Naisbett and Aburdene, Megatrends 2000, p. 277.31 ?John Wimber, "Introduction" in Power Encounters (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988) ed. Kevin Springer, p. xxviii.


which express a simple wonder at God's majesty. The worship leader moves from song to song according to the Spirit's leading rather than from a prepared order of service. Participants express their worship in whatever way the Spirit leads them to. Some are standing with arms lifted high. Others are prostrated on the floor. Some seem unconscious, others in the height of ecstasy, others yet sitting calmly in chairs. Some sing quietly,some weep, some speak to God in prayer languages, some just watch.

Silence plays a powerful part in the service as people wait on God to speak or move. Sometimes spoken prophecies punctuate the silence. Other times the silence extends for many minutes.

The second portion of the service moves to proclamation of the Word. Vineyard preachers direct their message to people, expecting immediate response.

In the third portion of the service, God works in the congregation.

From the beginning, kinship groups have been fundamental to the Vineyard.

Equipping the people for ministry -- ministry teams for healings and deliverance.

In the song section of the service, no one sings solos. No groups perform. Rather the whole congregation sings together. This comes from the belief that worship is not performance but participation.

In the power section of the service, anyone who stands in response to God is soon surrounded by people who pray for the person in whatever way needed. No special training is needed to join a ministry team dealing with all sorts of problems as they gather around a person and pray.

Those who are a part of the three waves of the Spirit challenge those who are not there to ask ourselves what change would the absence of the Holy Spirit have on what we do in the church and in our lives.

Jack Deere describes the change is his ministry following the working of the Spirit in his life, things which would stop if


the Holy Spirit were taken away, in six facets: The first is development of a healing ministry. "Currently I am praying almost every day for people's physical, emotional or spiritual problems. . . . We are seeing healing increase among us as prayerfor the sick becomes a way of life. [contra three excuses: Godis not healing today, spiritual more important than physical, disappointment with not healing]

Second is evangelism. It is not so much the ability to persuade as special sensitivity to direction of people ready for Christ. e. g., Philip, Acts 8, Peter, Acts 10, Paul Acts 16. This is quite different than Gary Friesen!

Third is delivering demonized people. He says that the Spirit revealed the presence of demonic activity within individuals in his church. He has been involved in 8-10 cases ofhealing demonized people.

Fourth is guidance. Example is prompting not to raise I Tim. 5:17 in a case where deacons were not submissive. A deacon soon did so, far more effectively.

Fifth, special insights or impressions that God gives for ministry. They are uninvited intrusions often seemingly irrelevant to the situation. Young Christian -- superficial conversation -- impression of a serious sin -- finally are you into ___? leading to deliverance.

Sixth, Worship. Move from pure teaching to "Worship God with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs enter His courtswith thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name (Psa. 100:2, 4).

WHO SPEAKS FOR THE THIRD WAVE?

I have chosen written documents with imprimatur of John Wimber or other recognized leaders. Main spokesmen include the following:John Wimber, Kevin Springer, Jack Deere

Vineyard FellowshipC. Peter Wagner, Charles Kraft

Fuller School of World Mission


Wayne GrudemTrinity Evangelical Divinity School

John WhitePsychiatrist

Ken Blue, George Mallone, Don WilliamsVineyard Pastors.

Donald Bridge, David PytchesAnglican Pastors

DEFINING MIRACLES, SIGNS AND WONDERS

What is a miracle? I like John Stott's definition: "A miracle by definition is an extraordinary event, a creative deviation from God's normal and natural ways of working."32 The other two words are signs and wonders. Signs are events which show us that God is alive and active, working in the world. Wonders are extraordinary events which make people wonder.

We are secularistic in our definition of miracle! Philosophers have been allowed to define miracles all too often. Our definition is in terms of suspension of natural law. Then miracle is an extraordinary, supernatural intervention into this universe. But that is to see the world in deistic terms at best.God has created the world, established laws which determine its running and then stepped away from it. It is "a closed box of forces from which the Creator is ordinarily standing at a distance, uninvolved."33 The laws of nature are entirely neutralin terms of God, His work, and His purposes. Much better is the biblical world view where God in involved in every detail of the universe, upholding, sustaining, supporting it. Then the regularity of nature, termed natural law, reflects the regularityof God. Then God is involved in the normalcies as in the miracles. This world is providentially sustained by God, as 32 ?John Stott, Baptism and Fullness (Downer's Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1978), p. 96.33 ?J. I. Packer, The Holy Spirit: God at Work," Christianity Today, March 19, 1990, p. 29.


Colossians 1:17 makes clear. It has no inherent reality. If Godwere to withdraw His constant attention from the world, it would disappear as quickly as the complex world inside a TV set when the plug is pulled.

We need consciously remove ourselves from the language of natural causation. Using terms like nature or natural law to describe God's creation and His regular working in it drops us into secular thinking. Better to use the word creation.

In the biblical view, a miracle is a signal that God is, fora moment and for a special purpose, walking down paths he does not usually walk. A miracle is not a sign that a God who is usually absent is, for the moment, present. It is only a sign that God who is always present in creative [and providential] power is working here and now in an unfamiliar style."34

True miracles usually are regenerative, renewing and restoring God's creation. Warner suggests God sets aside the impact of sin in the world when He does miracle. When God exorcizes a demon, He reverses the impact of sin.

Miracles of any sort draw our attention to YHWH, the sovereign God, who is at work before our eyes. His purpose is tobring us to recognize Him and to involve us in His work in the world. The purpose of miracles: recognize God at work in revelation or redemption. A miracle should lead us to see that this is a God-permeated world. They should lead to worship Him.

This is the point of such encounters as Elijah (I Kings 17),Elymas (Acts 13) and the Philippian jailor (Acts. 16).

The danger of denying miracles is ruling God out of our lives. We who are too often secularists need to realize a spiritual causality in the world. God works some events wholly of His own efforts. Regeneration is one example (John 1:13; Titus 3:5-6). Not all the spiritual causalities are from God, ofcourse. Demon possession is an example of a malevolent force attacking our world.

DANGERS OF FOCUSING ON MIRACLES34 ?Smedes, Ministry and the Miraculous, pp. 48-49.


I am not saying that these are all failures in Vineyard theology or practice. In fact they have successfully avoided many of them. They are dangers all of us need to be alerted to especially as we try to open eyes blinded by the acid rain of secularism to the reality of God at work in our world.

1. LEADS TO DESPISING "ORDINARY" CHRISTIANITY

When miracles become central, they lead rather easily from biblical faith to superstition and exploitation. Preoccupation with miracles turns Christians from the heart of the gospel, justifying faith and sanctifying obedience. The "ordinary" Christian life can be rather frustrating for someone expecting the miraculous. The examples of Marjoe and the Bakkers ought sensitize us.

2. MAY LEAD TO PREOCCUPATION WITH SIGNS THEMSELVES

When we base the accreditation of the Gospel on continual performance of miracles, we may run afoul of Jesus Himself. Jesus was very critical of people seeking signs: Study John 2:23f; 4:48ff; 6:30ff; Matt. 12:38ff (Luke 11:16ff); 16:1ff; Mark8:11-12; I Cor. 1:22. When the Jews asked for continued signs, it showed that they did not believe the ones which God had already given. Jesus castigated the people for their refusal to believe on the basis of sufficient demonstration of God's power.

3. THE TENDANCY IS CHEAPEN MIRACLES SO LIFE BECOMES MIRACULOUS To do so is to cheapen God himself.

We need to be very careful not to cheapen the word miracle to where it simply means anything advantageous to me. If winningthe football pool in the office becomes a miracle, then we have lost the concept of the special working of God which awakens us to God.


Packer tells of his wife waiting for a bus to take her to a meeting she needed to attend. Suddenly she realized she had no money with her. She prayed and boarded the bus. She found herself seated next to her uncle who paid her fare. He calls this a miracle, a wonderful sign, bringing her powerful encouragement from God, which is what made it a miracle.35

While Dr. Packer's wife gave praise to God, this experience is not something which would bring praise apart from a solid conviction that God is in control of every event in the world. If fact it seems very much like presumption on her part. This sort of attitude often leads to disappointment or tragedy.

Peter Wagner claims a miraculous healing in his life which showed him the power of God at work. He had migraines were prayed for many times with no lasting change. Finally he was advised by John Wimber to treat it like a cat on the back porch. Yell at it and tell it to go away. He first tried it in the shower a few days later. A few hours later he realized that he had no headache even though he had taken no pain reliever. The spirit tried to come back many times, with headaches symptoms beginning. Shouting at the spirit, commanding it to leave reversed the onset of symptoms. He also reports a recurrence after a recent bout of flu, which was relieved by further prayer.36

While I rejoice at the easing of his headaches, I wonder about the attribution of cause to the shouting at a spirit. The ineffectiveness of the "solution" to achieve long term healing seems to me to bring discredit on the power of God. Rather than seeing Him as the omnipotent God of the universe, I find this supports the weak-kneed God of Harold Kushner.

4. OVERRELIANCE ON THE POWER OF MIRACLES TO PRODUCE FAITH

Elijah, Jesus (Matt. 9:31-33; John 2:23-25) are example of 35 ?J. I. Packer, "The Holy Spirit: God at Work," Christianity Today, March 18, 1990, p. 31.36 ?Wagner, Third Wave of the Holy Spirit, pp. 67-70.


the failure of strong miracles to produce lasting faith or revival.

Kevin Springer's accounts of his relative's explanations of miracles in his own family.

David Martin Lloyd-Jones' comments on spontaneous remission are relevant here.

On the one hand, miracles are supposed to overthrow non-Christian world views but western world view limits doing and seeing miracles.

On the one hand Wimber insists that we must strip away our modern, secular assumptions about what is possible and not possible so that we will be able to recognize God's wonder working power when we see it. On the other hand Wimber repeatedly asserts that the purpose of signs and wonders is to remove any system or force that must be overcome for the gospel to be believed.37

The corrective: do not expect too much from miracles.

5. COMPROMISE THE CLARITY OF THE GOSPEL IN SOME OF THE POWER ENCOUNTERS

The gospel is more than instant relief from the pains of life. It is good news of Christ's victory over all the effects of sin, of reconciliation to God and all humans, of call to the ministry of reconciliation. Instead of centering faith on a God who forgives sin at such great cost, it seems to me that people may focus on a God delivers from illness and suffering, somethingwhich is never promised in this life.

Wagner tells the story of a witch doctor in Mandala, India who put a picture of Jesus on his god shelf. In order to test 37 ?Grant Wacker, "Wimber and Wonders, Reformed Journal, April 1987, p. 18.


which was the true God, he placed tiny balls of cow dung in frontof each picture, believing the most powerful god would ignite thefuel. Almost immediately, the ball in from the picture of Jesus burst into flames. The man became a fervent evangelist for Jesus.38

One immediately wonders what gospel he preached and what happened when another witch doctor did similar things only to have no ball ignite, or even another god's ball ignite.

As I read the conversion stories in Power Evangelism, I see many in which the gospel seems very unclear.

The corrective: be sure to get back to whole gospel quickly.

6. TURNS ATTENDANT MATTERS INTO CENTRAL MATTERS

Physical healing is not the substance of the gospel, but theresult of it.

Focus on miracles can lead us to what God can do for me now rather than what God has done for the world in Jesus Christ.

7. ASSUME "POWER" MEANS SIGNS AND WONDERS

Vineyard spokesmen assume this is true in every case. This simply is not true. A key text for power theology is I Cor. 2:1-6. A review of Acts 18 points to the power of the Word persuasively preached (cf. vv. 4, 5, 11, 13). No miracle appearsin the account. In fact, the miraculous signs are contrasted with the power of God in I Cor. 1:22-24. We must not underestimate the power of the Word of God persuasively preached,backed by a consistent, godly life and much prayer. Reliance on signs and wonders can result in exactly that underestimation, I'mafraid.

8. MIRACLES ARE NOT CENTRAL IN ACCREDITATION OF THE GOSPEL

38 ?Wagner, Third Wave of the Holy Spirit, pp. 85-86.SIGNS AND WONDERS -- PAGE

November, 1989

The central accreditation of the gospel is the changed livesof believers, who individually and corporately exhibit both the gifts and fruit of the Spirit. This is quite different from Power Theology's assertion that physical healing is the most potent verification of the presence and power of God. In Colossians, a book focusing on power encounter with forces of darkness, the power of the gospel results in lives which are progressively freed from evil behavior (1:21). The power of God is directed toward presenting perfect Christians in Christ (1:28-29), ones who by the power of God put off the sinful nature (2:11-12). One's who have come to know God are those who put offthe sinful deeds of the flesh (3:5-10) and put on the acts of theSpirit (3:12ff). Such deeds seem so "normal" that they are too often overlooked in favor of the showy. But as Paul found in Corinth, the showy often overcomes concern for the "normal," withdevastating effect.

9. MIRACLES DO NOT PROVE THE PRESENCE OF GOD, CORRECT TEACHING OR GODLY LIFE

Miraculous signs are not self-authenticating. The occurrence of a miracle does not prove that God is at work. "There are false prophets to be ignored, lying wonders to beware of, impressive psychic happenings to be treated with caution. . .. The mere fact of an exciting event does not guarantee divinity.Prophecies must be tested by their hearers, using God-given mindsand God-given Bibles. Physical healings must be judged by their tendency. Do they glorify God and engage submission to his will?Or do they encourage an expectancy of undisturbed comfort? Or dothe boost the claims of a religious leader? Or do they promote teachings and practices contrary to the Bible?39

The fall of key Vineyard leaders, ones who occasioned many miracles, shows the truth of this point.

39 ?Donald Bridge, Signs and Wonders Today (Leichester: InterVarsity Press, 1985), pp. 177-178.


10. CAN LEAD TO GOD BEING A BETTER MAGICIAN

11. THE POWER OF GOD IS PRESENT ONLY IN MIRACLES

A quick study of the uses of the word "power" shows many places where it has nothing to do with signs and wonders. For example, the gospel is the power of God working to salvation (Rom. 1:16-17), doing good is right alongside miracles in the description of Jesus (Acts 10:38), the power of God is in a consistent, godly life (I Cor. 4:19-20) affirming good behavior and confuting evil behavior (I Cor. 5:1-5), just to mention a few. The epistles locate the central exercise of the power of God in Jesus' resurrection rather than His miracles (John 2:19ff;Rom. 1:4; I Cor. 6:14; II Cor. 13:4).

12. BOXES GOD INTO MIRACLES

But it virtually limits God to the miraculous. "We should affirm a God-permeated Cosmos, in which God is continuously present, creating and preserving life, combatting the forces of decay and disease. Miracles -- in the conventional meaning of the term -- assuredly do take place, but they are a sign that theGod who is always present is working for the moment in an unfamiliar manner."

A life of worship and service comes God's power at work as much as any healing. His glory radiates from a person who loves,trusts, honors and praises Him in the midst of a life of service.This praise is enhanced when it comes in the midst of adversity, flowing out from the midst of personal or physical weakness.

13. TEACH A GOSPEL WITHOUT MIRACLES IS A GOSPEL WITHOUT POWER


They claim that proclamation, program, persuasion evangelismwill not overcome the powers of secular materialism. This is theconsistent teaching of people in the Vineyard. For example, Ken Blue says, "doing effective evangelism and church planting in this community required that I be effective in healing the sick and demonized."40 Wimber specifically argues that Paul changed his method from proclamation in Athens to power evangelism in Corinth. This is wrong. In both cases he reasoned to persuade (Acts 17:17; 18:3).

Realize that this is saying that proclamation of the Word, consistent, godly life and fervent prayer is not sufficient for effective evangelism.

George Mallone castigates key leaders of evangelicalism withfailure to show God's working.

Godly men like John Stott, Dick Lucas, and Jim Packer removed themselves from leadership opportunities by maintaining -- in practice if not in theology -- the cessation of certain gifts of the Spirit. Younger evangelicals, such as the late David Watson, waited for themto lead the way, but when they would not, the mantle of leadership fell to others.41 In C. Peter Wagner's widely read missions book, On the Crest

of the Wave, Charles Kraft argues that missionaries who will not or cannot address the problem of illness effectively cannot be aneffective spokesman for God.

Wimber, PE: Because Western Christians are inhibited from practicing power evangelism, their effectiveness is blunted. This leaves them ineffective in dealing with people who have problems with demons, illness and serious sin (41).

Wimber, PE: Emphasis on doctrinal knowledge and character development is good; this other dimension of Christian growth [exercise of faith for miracles such as healing, words of knowledge, and so on] adds much more (44)

40 ?Blue, Authority to Heal, p. 14.41 ?George Mallone, "Letter to the Editor," Christianity Today, March 19, 1990, p. 6.


14. ABSENCE OF MIRACLES MEANS JUDGMENT OF GOD ON UNFAITHFULNESS

Wimber suggests Psalm 74:9-11 and "several other texts wouldimply that the absence of signs and wonders is a concern of Scripture and may be traced to sin."42

The relative absence of miracles in the Vineyard, then, is testimony of God's judgment on them. This is their own perspective, not just mine.

This has the great danger of falling back into God's work according to my faith.

15. SIGNS AND WONDERS ARE SPECIFIC TO APOSTLES

II Cor. 12:12 especially indicates this: "The things that mark an apostle -- signs, wonders and miracles -- were done amongyou. Also Acts 14:3 Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message ofhis grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders." Hebrews 2:3-4 After it was at the first spoken through the Lord,it was confirmed to us by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. The aorist suggests that the miracles were no longer occurring.

16. MIRACLES NOT A PART OF THE GREAT COMMISSIONS

Neither the great commissions, the descriptions in Acts, nor the commands in the epistles teach the church to include miraculous healing as a regular and central feature of its ministry. The oft-cited commissions in Mark 10 and Luke 10 clearly have limitedobjectives -- no provisions, no money. Different directions weregiven later in Luke 22:35-36. The great commissions do not 42 ?John Wimber, "The Holy Spirit: God at Work," ChristianityToday, March 18, 1990, p. 32.


mention healings, resuscitation or deliverance as they command usto teach, preach, baptize, give authority for repentance and forgiveness.

17. MIRACLES GREATLY REDUCED IN FREQUENCY AFTER APOSTLES

Church History does not support the centrality of miraclesOften the appeal is made to church history to find support for signs and wonders. However, the testimony is quite different from the accounts given in power theology. The early church believed in miracles, but chiefly in a framework of suffering andmartyrdom. The testimony of the martyr's blood and the transformed life were primary. They were zealous to separate miracles from pagan magic and were quite critical of reports of miracles.

Though no one can make a case for the cessation of miracles in church history, one must admit that the relative number of miracles reduced significantly follow the apostolic era.

Lloyd-Jones notes "During those great periods of revival which have come periodically in the history of the Church, the phenomena consisted not so much in the working of miracles or healings as in extraordinary power of preaching and extraordinarydepth of conviction, and an unusual element of joy and of exaltation."43

The great revivalists of history never emphasized miracles. Remember Wesley, Finney, Moody, Sunday, Graham, etc.

18. MIRACLES COME IN BATCHES IN SALVATION HISTORYThere is a kind of periodicity in appearance of the

supernatural. Miracles come at special times and for clear reasons related to God's work in salvation history.

Despite the fact of constancy of pain and suffering throughout history, God's miracles come in batches at times selected by God.

43 ?David Martin Lloyd-Jones, The Supernatural in Medicine (London: C.M.F. Publications, 1971), p. 12.


CONCLUSION:

The most powerful signs are the most unusual. Those foundational to our faith happen only once. Rather than being repeated, believers are urged to remember them (Josh. 4:20-24; Psa. 77, 78; John 20:30-31). Expecting God to repeat signs may amount to doubting God.

It seems that God grants miracles in the initial stages of awork or when the normal means of attestation of the truth are notpossible because of the absence of the church.

The power of the gospel is not so much in the occasional miracle but in the life lived for Jesus Christ, gaining freedom from Sin, Self and Satan.

HEALING

PHYSICAL HEALING: THE HARD EVIDENCE OF GOD

Purpose: Show that while God does heal and we should all pray for that, an undue focus on healing goes away from the central foci of the Gospel.

1. CAREFULLY ARTICULATED THEOLOGY OF HEALING

They affirm that ultimately God is responsible for all situations in life. Deut. 32:39

The purpose of any healing is to promote God's glory and lead to worship of YHWH.

Healing comes from the Greek word sozo, meaning both salvation and healing. The noun Soteria means liberation from thebondage of sin, sickness, death to make us whole again. The Savior came to free from sickness as well as transgressions and iniquities and bring His people to shalom, wholeness, salvation,


right relation with God, and soundness of mind, spirit and body. His work on Calvary makes wholeness possible.

In the book of Acts the work of the church began with the outpouring of the Spirit (2:1-11), moved immediately to the proclamation of the inauguration of the new covenant and forgiveness of sin (2:14-41), then to the fellowship of the church (2:42-46) and then to the first miracle of healing demonstrating God's power, resulting in wondering praise for God (3:1-10).

The third wave pastors and writers have realized that healing is a complex phenomenon. Christ heals not just physical maladies but every sickness. He cleanses His people from every disease and illness, including spiritual, mental, emotional, volitional, interpersonal, psychological and physical disease as a part of His salvation.

They recognize that healing does not always come in the way or in the time prayed for. Wimber puts it this way: "We can come to him as father and expect him to hear, but he may not always respond in the way that we would like. But we can trust his response because it is ultimately right. The reason for his response will be revealed to us, either in earth or in heaven."44

They recognize the danger of focusing on the faith of the person or community or focusing on the prayer itself rather than the sovereign power of God. They recognize the dangers of faith healers who utilize bizarre or manipulative methods in order to produce "healings." They know lack of healing is not always due to lack of faith, demonic presence or unconfessed sin.

However, Wimber in the CT article (p. 30) says this: "There are three dynamics involved in healing: the faith of the person being prayed for, the faith of friends or family, and the faith of the person praying. There's a possibility that God sovereignly will initiate healing for his own reasons outside of 44 ?John Wimber, "The Holy Spirit: God at Work," Christianity Today, March 18, 1990, p. 33.


the context of people. But I think that is rare."

God wills the ultimate healing of all spiritual, psychological and physical sickness. This complete healing comes to us through the atonement arising from the death andresurrection of Jesus Christ. We receive this final, comprehensive healing at our resurrection from the dead. Sotoo, as a sign and seal of this promise, God often sends healing today. The healing of an illness and the grace to endure in hope when healing is delayed is the reality of Godstanding with us now. God upholds us in our fight against illness.45

The continued presence of illness is explained in terms of inaugurated eschatology. Freedom from malady, like freedom from the other ravages of sin, is begun in this age of the Spirit. Christ has won the decisive battle against sin, sickness, Satan and death, but the war continues as did World War II after the decisive victory at Normandy. Until the end of this age when Christ returns to establish His kingdom, these defeated enemies are still present and active. Until that time, even when the Spirit does heal us, He heals us into dying bodies.

Christians are part of a fallen and groaning creation ravaged by sin. To expect every person to be healed is to miss the tension of the already but not yet tension of inaugurated eschatology, to attempt to bypass the mystery between God's creative will for wholeness of all persons and permissive will which allows illness to continue in some. "Healings are a sign that the kingdom has come, but the limited number only goes to show that the kingdom of God has not yet fully come."46

45 ?Ken Blue, Authority to Heal (Downer's Grove: InterVarsity Press, XXXX, p. 69.46 ?David Pytches, Spiritual Gifts in the Local Church (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1985), p. 30.


Lloyd John Ogilvie describes his philosophy of healing in four principles:47

1. Christ is the healing power of the world. There is no healing apart from Him. He seeks to make people whole today as He did during His ministry as Jesus of Nazareth and as resurrected Lord in the first century.

2. Christ seeks to make His church a healing community -- founding, fostering, and supporting the work of medicalscience and claiming His healing through prayer. The healing resulting from both comes from Him alone.

3. Contemporary Christians in whom He abides have an inalienable right to claim and exercise the spiritual gifts of faith, healing, and working of miracles today.

4. The task of the local church is to preach and teach wholeness and to help its people to claim healing through prayer, providing services of healing in which prayers for the needs and problems of people can be prayed with confidence and assurance of Christ's intervention in keeping with His greater wisdom and Hisevolving strategy in our lives.

Rex Gardner, speaking with the guarded realism expected from a physician, concludes48

1. Intellectual honesty demands that (after

47 ?Lloyd John Ogilvie, Why Not? Accept Christ's Healing and Wholeness (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1985), p. 31.48 ?Rex Gardner, A Doctor Investigates Healing Miracles (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1986), pp. 205-206. I have omitted his principle #3 which speaks of continuance of the gift of healing through the history the church.


discounting cases where dubious diagnoses, those where psychosomatic considerations are important, and others where the cure might be attributable to adjuvant medical therapy or where spontaneous remission might bethe explanation) there remain some cures for which medicine has no explanation.

2. That in these cases the constant association of prayer to God cannot be discounted. Nor can it be set aside as merely a psychological boost for some healings cannot have psychosomatic explanation.

3. That although Christ purchased health on the cross, as well as redemption and adoption as God's children, the benefits of none of these can be fully entered into during our earthly life.

4. Healing is not an automatic response to an adequate quantity of faith, nor is it withheld if insufficient faith is generated. Nor does it require correct theological understanding. It is in the sovereign willof God.

5. The Christian is entitled to bring all problems, including health, in prayer to God, but is not entitledto lay down what particular answer he should give, or at what time. We can make bold and specific requests as long as we do so 'if it is thy will'.

6. Intellectual honest requires us to acknowledge that ourexperience today (by any definition that is acceptable)is that only a small percentage of those for whom physical heling is sought from God obtain it. But in absolute terms the number appears to be fairly rapidly increasing as more churches become open to this work ofGod; and percentage-wise more are being healed as the Holy Spirit is being permitted to develop ministries


within local fellowships.

7. A belief in the occurrence of cases of miraculous healing today is intellectually acceptable. The conclusion seems inescapable, in the light of the evidence presented in this work, that we have a living God, intimately interested in our affairs, prepared to intervene in a specific practical way in response to prayer. This being the case it is logical to pray about our health, and that of our patients and friends.

2. GOD CAN BRING GOOD OUT OF CONTINUING EVIL

Ken Blue tells how prayers for a healing a severely retarded child, prayers which were not answered, led to conversion of 14 family members, how his goddaughter's deafness led to a fruitful ministry in the deaf community (Authority to Heal, p. 39).

John Wimber tells the story of a remarkable man he knows.49 This man's teenage daughter was brutally murdered by a man tryingto rape her. Later a pickup the man's 22 year old son was driving flipped over, crushing the son's skull. The father must care for his handicapped son constantly now.

Many would respond to these double tragedies by saying, "If that's what God is like, I'm getting out of here. I'm not going to trust in a God that will let my kids get done in.

After both tragedies, the man gathered his family together for prayer. The essence of that prayer was, "Father, I don't understand. But I trust you."

Because the murder, search for the killer, trial and the man's public forgiveness was front page news in Los Angeles, manypeople knew about him and were willing to hear his testimony about Christ. His continued testimony in the face of tragedy has49 ?John Wimber, "Offended by God?" Pastoral Renewal March/April, 1990, p. 7.


resulted in many people coming to Christ, including John Wimber.Wimber says, I am sure that if I were designing a program to

prepare an evangelist, I would never come up with anything like that. God's ways are not my ways. But God's action in this man's life produced a broken and contrite heart, and a highly motivated personality. He went out and has done the job God gavehim from that day forth.

3. OPPOSED TO "FAITH FORMULA" THINKING

Kenneth Hagin develops his faith formula from passages like Deuteronomy 28. He argues every sickness is a curse from God because of the sin. Because Christ has redeemed His people from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13), those who confess their sins and speak God's word will be healed. They can scripturally claimhealing from any sickness, because Deuteronomy 28:61 says every sickness is a curse of the law. Christ's redemption frees from every sickness. God can heal you, He wants to heal you, believe it, claim it, and it will happen. The only hindrance to healing is lack of faith in God's power.

'Faith formula' defines faith as the human will to believe. The human ability to believe is the key which unlocks God's treasure chest of gifts . . . 'If you fulfill God's conditions by believing enough, God will heal. If you do not fulfill his conditions by believing enough, he will not.'50

Gardner's response is typical of those from the Vineyard.51 If adequate faith brings healing, then I have been the vital agent in the healing and deserve congratulation. If faith mandates healing, then God is no longer sovereign, but a

50 ?Ken Blue, Authority to Heal, pp. 42,43. 51 ?Gardner, Healing Miracles, pp. 166-169.


dispenser of blessings. Insert faith into the divine vending machine and healing must come no matter what might be best for His purposes. Finally, it simply does not happen like this either in Scripture or in life. Many of sublime faith are not healed. This proves God's plan is not always our return to full heath. Blaming the sufferer for lack of healing results in despair, abandoning the gospel and God Himself. He concludes, "we must never, in any circumstance whatever, all the 'insufficient faith' explanation to be offered. It is a cop-out,however elegant the theological edifice from which it is pronounced."52

Note the paradox: If I pray "according to Your will, Lord,"then it seems I have little or no faith. If I pray boldly, claiming God's power, then I appear to be forcing God to do my will.

4. ENDORSE MEDICAL SCIENCE

"My judgment is that the combination of loving prayer with medical and psychological expertise creates the optimum conditions for healing to occur" (Ken Blue, Authority to Heal, p.59).

PROBLEMS

1. CONTRADICTORY VIEWS OF GOD'S PROMISE TO HEAL

Jesus' healing miracles "reveal something essential about the character of the Father, in particular, his consistent and unambiguous hostility towards sickness and his desire to heal it"(Ken Blue, Authority to Heal, p. 73).

52 ?Ibid., p. 168.SIGNS AND WONDERS -- PAGE

November, 1989

"It is Satan's will to cripple. It is God's will to heal." Quoting Leslie Weatherhead,

[Jesus] seems to have regarded God's ideal purpose for everyman as perfect health of body, mind and spirit, and althoughthat ideal integration was seldom attained, Christ worked for it and believed himself to be doing in this way the willof God.

"Despite the fact that God wills to heal the sick, not all the sick are healed. This ambiguity forces us to realize that we aredealing with a sovereign and free God; we are confronting sin, demonic beings, and a host of complex psychological, physical andspiritual factors" (Ken Blue, Authority to Heal, p. 40).

After explicitly denying that illness is ever God's will, they put continued illness in the hands of a sovereign and free God who allows illness (e. g., Ken Blue, Authority to Heal, p. 40; Pytches, pp. 166-167).

Where someone is not healed it could be worthwhile checking on such areas as unforgiveness, deeper emotional hurts, unbelief or faithlessness, but in the final analysis it must always be recognized that our sovereign God may havesome inscrutable reasons which he is not willing to disclose(Isaiah 55:9). God may permit the sickness for some greaterobjective.53

Followed by: It is God's nature to heal. It is not His purpose to teach us through sickness. Sickness is never made to appear beneficial in the New Testament.54

"What do you do with the people who are not healed? This question was foremost in the minds of most faculty. Did Satan

53 ?Pytches, Spiritual Gifts in the Local Church, p. 166.54 ?Pytches, Spiritual Gifts in the Local Church, p. 166.


win this one?" (Ben Patterson, "Cause for Concern" CT, August 6,1986, p. 20).

On one hand Ken Blue is very critical of the faith formula movement and their simple belief that God always wants to heal and will do so unless sin blocks that work. On the other hand hecommends them for believing God's promises and the risks they took on behalf of those promises (Ken Blue, Authority to Heal, p.50). Later he virtually charges those who do not believe that itis always God's will to heal with heresy: "When we suspect that God wills sickness and entertain doubts about his desire to heal it, we betray that what we think about the character of God is not rooted in the revelation of God in Christ but arises from theshadows somewhere offstage" (Ken Blue, Authority to Heal, p. 72).

They teach that Jesus healed everyone who actually came to Him (Matt. 4:24; 8:16; Mark. 1:32; Luke 6:18,19), though not everyone in need was healed (e. g., John 5:2,3). Peter's shadow and Paul's handkerchief healed all they touched (Acts 5:15,16; 19:11,12).

The goal for the Christian is to try to know the will of Godfor each situation, whether it is God's will to heal or not.55

Blue quotes Weatherhead approvingly: "God created the body to be the perfect instrument of the Spirit. It cannot be his will that it should function imperfectly." He goes on to say "It may well be that the whole fellowship of the church needs to be raised to a higher spiritual level today before individual healers in it can repeat the healing activities of the Son of God, and that until the groups within the church today are willing to pass through the same kind of discipline, the healing ministry of the church will be restricted" (Ken Blue, Authority to Heal, p. 62-63).

55 ?Pytches, Spiritual Gifts in the Local Church, p. 29, 55-56.


Wagner quotes John P. Baker who sums it up in his book, Salvation and Wholeness: "this is God's intention for those who have consistently let the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus set themfree from the law of sin and death at every level of their being:namely that, at the end of a long and full life and in good health, they should breathe their last yielding up their spirit to their Maker when He sees that the number of their days (normally 70-80 years now) are fulfilled." He centers his case on the argument that in the Bible, "salvation and healing are virtually interchangeable terms."

The simple facts of Scripture and experience contradict thispremise.

Paul did not heal Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:26-29). Indeed thatillness caused Paul deep sorrow and anxiety. Timothy, his beloved associate, suffered frequent illnesses for which Paul could do no more than to advise a little wine (I Tim. 5:23). He was forced to leave Trophimus in Miletus because of an illness (II Tim. 4:20). Paul himself suffered some sort of illness, causing him to come to Galatia (Gal. 4:13-14).

Experientially, such men as John Wimber, pastor of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, and his former associate, Blaine Cook, were unable to heal the outstanding British preacher, DavidWatson. The story of his final year of life is powerfully presented in Watson's little book, Fear No Evil. According to that account, all involved believed that the cancer was cursed inthe hospital room prayer service and would soon disappear. Despite their faith in God's promise, the progress of the diseasefollowed a "normal" schedule and Watson died just over a year later.

Wimber himself reports in his new book, Power Healing that he suffers from heart disease and ulcers despite the prayers of many thousands of people.

As I write this article, I look out at the house of Ruth AnnTidswell, one of the most godly people I have ever met. Many of


you heard her cheerful voice as she answered the telephone at Western for many years. In a few minutes I will go there for a moving sale. The multiple sclerosis which has racked her body for years is forcing her to leave her beloved Portland to return to her family home in Illinois. I weep for the pain and loss.

2. THE DANGER OF IDENTIFYING HEALING WITH GOD'S PRESENCE IS THAT IT LEAVES NO SUFFICIENT ANSWER FOR ILLNESS

David Pytches has had two major hospitalizations in the two years prior to the writing of his book. "But," he records, "all this has in no way undermined my conviction that the commission to be involved in divine healing is still God's will for the whole church."56

From my articleWhy are these people not healed? Some suggest their unconfessed sin or deficient faith. But

this simply will not explain these cases. All these cases involve godly, gifted, mature, faithful Christians. It would be unthinkable to accuse them of weaker faith than the man at the pool of Siloam, for example.

Wimber agrees, refusing to blame godly people for continuedillness or death.

A key chapter of Power Healing is entitled "Not Everyone is Healed." He is quick to admit failures to heal in the Bible, hisministry and his own body, citing candidly his own ulcers and heart trouble. He adopts the explanation that God is selective in whom He heals. Sometimes God works through illness, accomplishing His purposes without removing it. But even after saying this, he returns to the explanations of too little faith, too much sin, failure to persist in prayer.

Although he realizes the flaw in this theology, it seems he cannot bring himself to believing that God does not want to heal

56 ?Pytches, Spiritual Gifts in the Local Church, p. 10.


every illness. The compassionate God cannot abide illness. Healing, not suffering, confirms His goodness.

How can he deal with the enigma his theology raises? I believe his response to David Watson's death reveals his heart: "You're watching people die in front of your eyes -- lovely people, worthy people who ought to live. For some reason known only to God, he doesn't always do what it seems apparent in Scripture he is committed to doing. And I don't have an explanation, because God hasn't given us one in his Word" (Christianity Today, June 14, 1985, p. 34).

The Bible is not silent. Wimber has chosen not to hear it. God's uncomfortable answer is that His power is perfected in

weakness. Jesus became weak, especially in the crucifixion in order that the power of God would be made clear in Him (II Cor. 13:4). The passage goes on to describe the thorn in the Paul's flesh. God helped Paul realize that His power is made manifest in the Spirit-enabled triumphing in the midst of all sorts of trials and tribulations rather than in ending them. The key question in suffering is "How can we turn our suffering to the service of our neighbor, to our own growth, and to the glory of God?"

Few books have moved me as deeply as Watson's Fear No Evil. The strength of faith and spirit of worship God gave him in the midst of his mortal illness centered on deepened insight into God's Word, especially the Psalms. Because Wimber cannot see thepower of God in weakness, he has no answer for the death of DavidWatson. Adopting power theology will too often cause one to missthe incredible power of grace in the midst of weakness, exposing a fatally weak theology.

Seeing God's power revealed in weakness certainly does not make God into a sadist, calculating evil events for His people. Neither does it make evil good. The Cross of Christ negates bothfallacies. God's love moved Him to take the awful penalty for sin in its fullness. Whatever purpose He has in allowing evil, His love moves Him to drink the awful cup Himself.


3. OVEREMPHASIZING HEALING CAN DIVERT PRIORITY FROM GOD'S GLORYTO OUR COMFORT

self orientationcomfort orientation

4. FALSE EXPECTATIONS ARE HAZARDOUS

My main concern comes directly from what happened to Paul inActs 19. What he did of the Spirit was soon copied in form without the Spirit and the result was tragic as is recounted in Acts and in several of his epistles. Misinterpretation can lead people to expect God to do things He has not promised to do, sometimes resulting in shattered faith. Misinterpretation can lead people to copy form without Spirit, sometimes resulting in false miracles. That task of interpretation is what I am think is not being done properly and I fear the sort of things outlinedhere.

The devastation of being told Jesus healed all who were brought to him and then not being healed when you come cannot be overstated. Packer, although he was describing faith formula healing, speaks powerfully to this problem:

To be told that longed for healing was denied you because ofsome defect in your faith when you had labored and strained every way you knew to devote yourself to God and to "believefor blessing," is to be pitchforked into distress, despair, and a sense of abandonment by God. That is as bitter a feeling as any this side of hell -- particularly if, like most invalids, your sensitivity is already up and your spirits down.57

57 ?J. I. Packer, "Poor Health May Be the Best Remedy," Christianity Today, May 21, 1982, p. 15.


5. MAY LEAD TO SAY GOD HAS FAILED"What do you do with the people who are not healed? This question was foremost in the minds of most faculty. Did Satan win this one? If so, then Satan holds a commanding lead in the game, because the majority of people who are prayed for do not, in fact, get well physically. A subtle, but powerful, pressure therefore builds in the Signs and Wonders mentality to see miracles where there are none" (Ben Patterson, "Cause for Concern" CT, August 6, 1986, p. 20).

Worst of all, some proponents of power theology claim God will dothings (e. g., healing) which He has not promised to do -- thingswhich the Bible says that He will sometimes NOT do. Then they base their faith on God doing these things. When He does not (remember He never said He would always heal), then the faith of the person is destroyed either because God's (supposed) promise has failed, or because their faith was not strong enough to meritGod's promise. In either case the result is disastrous.

DEMONISM

1. UNDUE FOCUS ON DEMONS

Modern day exorcists create all manner of havoc by seeing demons when there are none.

This is in stark contrast to the New Testament writers. Little interest is shown in demons and demonology except where itrelates to soteriology. The focus of attention is on the Healer,not the disease or the demon. Graham Twelftree advises contemporary Christians "to follow the example of the early Church -- not to ignore the demonic, but to focus attention on Jesus the healer who defeats the demonic. . . . Pay as little


attention to the demonic as is pastorally possible."58 C. S. Lewis' admonition in the preface to his Screwtape Letters is wellknown but not adequately heeded.

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist ora magician with the same delight.The New Testament never shows interest in inhabitation of

buildings or places. It does not even indirectly address the question. Thus the best practice would be to follow the biblicalexample and emphasize people and salvation rather than casting demons out of buildings, rooms, rugs, and the like.

2. ALLOW DEMONS TO DICTATE THE TERMS OF ENCOUNTER

3. DEMONS GIVEN THE RIGHT TO INVADE BELIEVERS

4. TESTING THE SPIRITS IS NOT EMPHASIZED

If the warrant for our faith is miracles then we may fall prey tothe false prophets against whom we are warned in Matt. 7:15-23. These people sincerely prophesied, drove out demons, and performed many miracles. The proof of their gospel did not rest in their signs and wonders, but in their changed life (or lack thereof) and proclamation of the truth.

PROPHECY

1. EXPERIENCE DICTATES INTERPRETATION

Many experiences are developed wholly apart from teaching of

58 ?Graham Twelftree, Christ Triumphant: Exorcism Then andNow (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1985), p. 175.


Scripture.

"The great revivalists like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfieldwere insistent [that the gospel must approach the human heart through the intellect]. They were always asking whether experiences, however emotional or powerful, were in direct response to understood truth. If not, they were discounted as fanaticism" (from Walter Chantry, "Powerfully Misleading," Eternity, July-August 1987, p. 28).

"Rather than beginning with a valid interpretation of the Bible and then allowing the Scriptures to interpret his experience, Wimber seems to start with his own experience, which he then allows to inform his understanding of the biblical text" (Sarles,"Appraisal of Signs and Wonders Movement," 69-70).

2. PROPHETIC AUTHORITY EQUALS BIBLICAL AUTHORITY IN MATTERS OF PRACTICE.

The third wave movement shares a problem with all the Pentecostalmovements in that biblical authority, the written Word of God, issupplemented by the authority of the living Word of God known through the present work of the Holy Spirit. Quebedeaux summarizes, "spiritual authority rests ultimately in the present activity and teaching of the Holy Spirit at least as much in the Bible itself, whose essential truth is made known to individuals only by the power of the Spirit."59 In present day prophecy God speaks today with the same authority as He did in the biblical era. Through the prophet He addresses the congregation -- even in first person utterances -- just as He did in the days of Moses, and Isaiah. expressing His will for particular situations.This authority moves beyond that which comes in Scripture, disclosing in a new and fresh way the mind of the Father.

The Spirit as the living God moves through and beyond the

59 ?Quebedeaux, p. 134. His section on this point, pp. 131-134, is helpful.


records of past witness, however valuable such records are as a model for what happens today. For in the Spirit the present fellowship is as much the arena of God's vital presence as anything in the Biblical account.60

The truth expressed there may be exposition of Scripture, but it often is new revelation for the specific needs of the congregation. While it is not new doctrine and is not usually written down, it is authoritative and specific direction for individuals as well as for the congregation as a whole. It is often the prophetic word which animates the written Word, making it powerful for the specific situation.

This extension of divine authority from Scripture to the present day prophetic word has all the dangers of subjectivism. Members of the movement recount to me their desire to be receptive to the prophetic work of the Spirit to the degree of quieting their rational faculties as well as their own uncertainties about the word they receive. When I ask ministers how they know the revelations they receive are true, they tell methey actively suppress their powers of critique in order to be receptive to the Spirit's work. They rely on their ability to distinguish between spirits, an intuitive power to know if a wordis from God or is illusory. The distinguishing is not from the content of the message, but from the impact of the Giver of revelation. No matter how difficult the word received, their sole responsibility is to pass it on to the congregation unhindered by their own fallibility or doubts.

It seems to me that they want to be prophets without the biblical requirements and responsibilities of being prophets. Throughout the Bible there are requirements for testing the reality of prophets and the truth of their words. Those who claim to speak for God and fail in that work are discredited. Those who speak what God has not commanded them to say are to be put to death. Those whose prophecies do not come true are not tobe heeded (Deut. 18:14-22).

60 ?J. Rodman Williams, The Era of the Spirit (Plainfield, NJ: International, 1971), p. 16. Quoted by Quebedeaux, p. 133.


Virtually all non-Pentecostals also speak authoritatively inmatters of practice not spoken to in Scripture. However, they speak on the basis of wisdom. They do not give divine authority to their proclamations.

3. PRAGMATISM

Many buy it because it makes churches grow. If that were the case, we should become Mormon!

4. CESSATION OF MIRACLES IDENTIFIED WITH DISPENSATIONAL THEOLOGY

"Dispensational speculations about gifts of healings vanishing with the apostles notwithstanding, this aspect of church life andwitness is not just a first-century phenomenon" (Ken Blue, Authority to Heal, p. 15).

Unless one is willing to call Luther, Calvin and B. B. Warfield dispensational (!), this is gross misrepresentation. The sneering reference to dispensational theology as something culticis offensive as well.

Other do better. Ogilvie attributes the demise to the lack of quality of openness to the living Christ exemplified by the apostles. The church fell away from the doctrine of the apostlesin many areas, with result that the power of Christ dissipated. As the church rediscovered the truth of Scripture, the power returned, culminating in the rediscovery of the gifts of the Spirit and a ministry of healing.

5. SAY EVANGELICALS TEACH SICKNESS IS A BLESSING FROM GOD TO BEVALUED FOR ITS SPIRITUAL BENEFITS

They paint a false alternative between passivity in the face of illness and their belief that it is always God's will to heal thesick.


"When we say that God sends sickness or asks us to endure it, we are creating for many people an image of God they must eventuallyreject. What human mother or father would choose cancer for their daughter in order to tame her pride? . . . Those preachers and chaplains who try to comfort the sick by telling them to accept their illness as a blessing sent from God are giving an immediate consolation, but at what an ultimate cost" (Francis MacNutt, The Power to Heal, p. 208, quoted by Blue, The Authorityto Heal, p. 21).

Evangelicals never teach sickness is a blessing from God. Ratherthe blessing is God's grace in the midst of the evil of illness. There is a quantum difference between God allowing illness and making good come from it and seeing illness as God's direct work.

HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND?

Do pray for healing. Pray powerfully and faithfully for Godto work, following the examples of II Cor. 12:8 and James 5:14. However, we must in principle follow Paul as he followed our Lord. Both prayed three times for relief, responding to God's sovereignty: "Not my will but Thine be done." These words are not words of resignation, but words of faith, believing God's power is demonstrated in weakness. Ask God to show Himself in power.

Do not allow the excesses of faith healers to drive you to deny God's healing power. People often try to reduce the optionsto always or never. God does heal, but according to His time andpurpose.

Do test the miraculous claims carefully. False prophets work great miracles. Charlatans seem to work great miracles by means of deception or trickery so subtle that only professional magicians can penetrate their deceit. Any who charge careful persons of sinful doubt have not considered the biblical mandate to test the prophets and their miracles. Sinful doubt is


rejecting divine revelation, not checking the credentials of a prophet or miracle worker.

Do not fall prey to the argument that a good God will alwaysheal physical illness immediately. The facts of Scripture and experience are clear. God's perfect healing will come, but it isnot promised until the resurrection when He will wipe away every tear, and end every affliction (Rev. 21:4-7; 22:15).

Do realize that God heals at many different levels. He heals spiritually and emotionally as well as physically. Healingbitterness demonstrates God's power at least as much as healing physical illness.

Do not yield to the clamor for instant relief from individual suffering. Christlikeness means sharing the sufferings of a sin-marred world.

Do prayerfully seek to make every occasion an opportunity tomanifest the glory of God whether by a working of His special providence or the strengthening of His grace.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baxter, J. Sidlow. Divine Healing of the Body. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979.

Blue, Ken. Authority to Heal is an evangelist and church planter. Hegives a definitive study of the theology and practice of healing from the perspective of the power theology movement.

Bridge, Donald. Signs and Wonders Today. Leichester: InterVarsity Press, 1985.

Frost, Evelyn. Christian Healing: A Consideration of the Place of Spiritual Healing in the Church of Today in the Light of the Doctrine and Practice of the Ante-Nicene Church.London: Mowbray, 1940.

Gardner, Rex. A Doctor Investigates Healing Miracles. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1986.

Hubbard, Ray. Isaiah 53: Is There Healing in the Atonement? Bromley: Foundation Publications, 1972.

Kelsey, Morton. Healing and Christianity in Ancient and Modern Times.San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1973, is an attempt to provide a theological foundation, based on historical and scientific understanding, for the ministry of sacramental healing today. An opposing perspective with the same basis is presented in Wade Boggs, Faith Healing and the Christian Faith. Both are done at a high scholarly level and deserve careful reading.

Kraft, Charles. Christianity with Power. Ann Arbor: Servant, 1989.

Lewis, C. S. Miracles is one of the many apologetic books which seeksto outline the place of miracles in setting a


foundation for proclamation of the gospel. Another readable study is Norman Geisler's Miracles and Modern Thought. For those who want a deeper study will want to read Colin Brown, Miracles and the Critical Mind, for the philosophical-theological issues and David Wenham, Gospel Perspectives: Vol. 6, for a scholarly discussion of the historical reality of the miracles inthe Gospels.

Mayhue, Richard. Divine Healing Today. Chicago: Moody, 1983.

MacNutt, Francis. Healing. Altamonte Springs, CA: Creation House, 1988. This second edition broadens a best seller from a study oriented to Catholics to one aimed at all who would affirm the Apostle's Creed.

Masters, Peter. The Healing Epidemic. London: The Wakeman Trust, 1988 believes the tenets of power theology, including healing and casting demons out of Christians contradictScripture at many points.

Nolen, William A. Healing: A Doctor in Search of a Miracle, was willing to believe, but not willing to be credulous. In his examination of faith healing and faith healers, he found most to be charlatans. A few, like Kathryn Kuhlman, he determined to be sincere but mistaken.

Ogilvie, Lloyd John. Why Not? Accept Christ's Healing and Wholeness.Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell, 1985.

Packer, J. I. "Poor Health May Be the Best Remedy," Christianity Today, May 21, 1982.

Reddin, Opal. Power Encounter: A Pentecostal Perspective. Springfield, MO: Central Bible College Press, 1989 is a series of essays by Assemblies of God scholars which is largely sympathetic with power theology but differs strongly on the issue of demonization of Christians.


Smedes, Lewis. Ministry and the Miraculous is the report of a task force of faculty members of Fuller Seminary who studiedthe issues raised by MC510 course. The result is an outstanding statement, affirming the power and truth ofthe gospel while rejecting or correcting many of the claims of power theology. This is required reading.

Springer, Kevin. Power Encounters Among Christians in the Western World. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988, is the first hand stories of 16 evangelical who had transforming experiences in their lives which brought them into sympathy with the distinctives of power theology.

Synan, Vinson. In The Latter Days. Ann Arbor: Servant Books, 1984.

Twelftree, Graham. Christ Triumphant: Exorcism Then and Now. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1985.

Wagner, C. Peter. The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit, is Wagner's updated description of the movement. It contains quitea lot of personal testimony from Wagner's own experience. This book is the primer of the movement.

Wagner, C. Peter. Signs and Wonders Today, is the description, compiled by the editors of Christian Life Magazine, of MC510, "Miraculous and Church Growth," a course at Fuller Seminary. Proponents of power theology conduct seminars and conferences like this course all over the world.

Warfield, B. B. Counterfeit Miracles and Miracles, Yesterday and Today, follow the attitude of the Luther and Calvin in arguing that the dispensation of miraculous gifts ceased with the apostles. He points out the danger of claims of the miraculous gifts while affirming strongly


the supernatural character of Christianity. This is the classic statement of the position which Wimber rejects.

Wells, David F. God the Evangelist, studies the role of the Holy Spirit in evangelism. Writing from a Reformed evangelical perspective, he makes it clear that the Spirit is not forgotten in evangelism simply because one does not adopt power evangelism.

White, John. When the Holy Spirit Comes with Power, written by the well known Christian psychiatrist, is a personal study of the signs and wonders movement as a revival. He tries to steer a course between fearful rejection and uncritical euphoria when faced with unusual phenomena. His assessment is that the signs and wonders movement is a genuine revival from God which should be embraced lest we be doomed to the shallows of Christian experience.

Wimber, John with Kevin Springer, Power Evangelism and Power Healing, are powerfully written expositions of power theology bythe founder of the rapidly growing Vineyard movement. Many tapes and printed materials are available from Vineyard Ministries International, P. O. Box 65, Placentia, CA 92670.

Many articles analyzing the movement have been published. Equipping the Saints is the magazine published by Vineyard Ministries, International. It is an official voice of the movement. Magazines like Christian Life, Charisma, and Pastoral Renewal are major sources for articles expounding the power theology movement. The Christianity Today Institute convened a distinguished group of scholars to discuss "Wonder-Working Power"and published the results in Christianity Today, March 19, 1990. Substantive and sensitive critiques of the movement include Tim


Stafford, "Testing the Wine from John Wimber's Vineyard" Christianity Today, August 8, 1986, 17-22; Wallace Benn and Mark Burkhill, "A Theological and Pastoral Critique of the Teachings of John Wimber," Churchman 10:1 (1987) 101-113; Grant Wacker, "Wimber and Wonders," Reformed Journal, April, 1987, 16-19; Ken Sarles, "An Appraisal of the Signs and Wonders Movement," Bibliotheca Sacra 146 (1988) 57-82.


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