AGP React Internet News Special

You are > home > news.agpgroup.net > Nederlands Nieuwscentrum > 3de generatie opwekking - Een vermomde schaap

by Paige Isaac

Our very name, "Seventh-day Adventist," demands that we keep our eyes focused on the return of our Lord and on the signs leading up to it.

One of the most ominous signs of the second coming was predicted by Jesus in Matthew 24:24, "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible." Our Lord warned, "They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves" (Matt 7:15 NIV).

It may seem impossible that intelligent friends whom we know and admire could ever be seduced by spiritualism. But current developments suggest that the prophecy is already being fulfilled.

Not only has spiritualism gained access to the ranks of Christianity, it has taken a leading position there and is threatening to infiltrate the remnant.

How does Satan seek to accomplish this "nearly impossible" task of deceiving the elect?

Does he blatantly identify himself and announce his plan to take over the church? Not likely! I believe that Satan has designed a most engaging temptation, one that appears on the surface to be the way to fulfill the "great commission" but which is, in fact, a counterfeit that adulterates the church's mission. This engaging temptation might be called "sanctified covetousness." It is the lure of "growing" a congregation into a "mega-church" by use of common "marketing" methods. The temptation promises to bring large numbers of the "unchurched" into churches where message and medium are adapted to the desires of the "audience."

Second Timothy 4:3-4 warned long ago that "the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

The "church growth" movement has forgotten the transcendent importance of spiritual growth that reproduces the image of God in His people. The new movement has all but discarded that portion of the great commission that requires us to teach new converts "to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."

The new movement is known to most Christians as the "third wave of the Holy Spirit." It is defined in due course below.

The First Wave

The "first wave of the Holy Spirit" began at the turn of the century.

C. Peter Wagner, professor of Church Growth at Fuller Theological Seminary and the man who coined the term "third wave of the Holy Spirit," describes the beginning of the first wave:

"The roots of this new thing began in 1900," he says. "During a watch night service [in Kansas City], beginning December 31, 1900, and ending on what is technically the first day of the twentieth century, Charles Parham of Topeka, Kansas [notice his name], laid his hands on Agnes Ozman, she began speaking in tongues, and the movement had begun.

"A fascinating chain of events led to the famous Azusa Street revival, which began in 1906 under the ministry of William Seymour," Wagner continues. "And with that, the Pentecostal movement gained high visibility and a momentum that has never slackened."[1]

In describing the characteristics of the first wave, Wagner says, "The major characteristic of the Pentecostal movement was a powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit in the realm of the miraculous that most other Christians at the time found highly unusual. Prominent among the miraculous works were what have been called baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, healing the sick, and casting out demons. It also brought with it an openness and freedom to public worship which at times involved a rather high noise level, praying with upraised hands, emotional demonstrations, falling on the floor, and even some dancing in the Spirit.... The majority of Christians were not prepared for this... They had no theology for it."[2]

Walter J. Hollenweger provides additional information about the Azusa Street revival. "For three years without interruption," he says, "prayer meetings took place here with speaking in tongues, singing in tongues and prophecy." Hollenweger quotes F. Bartleman as writing, "They shouted three days and three nights.... They shouted there until the foundation of the house gave way...." The contributions that the Azusa Street Revival made to the Christian world included in comprehensible tongues, miraculous healing, casting out demons, and a boisterous ecstatic worship service. Most of mainstream Christianity rejected it, finding no biblical basis for it.[3]

Upon arriving at the Azusa Street revival, Charles Parham, whom we met above at the Kansas City revival, was "repelled" by the "wild uproar and spiritual pandemonium" that he found.

What particularly bothered him? He saw "spiritualists and mediums from the numerous occult societies of Los Angeles ... contribute their seances and trances to the service" (my italics).[4] Parham had been the teacher and mentor of William Seymour, the revival's leader. Parham earnestly rebuked his former student, Seymour, but Seymour ultimately refused the counsel of his former mentor and "the two suffered an irreparable break in their relationship."[5]

The participation of numerous spirit mediums in the Azusa Street revival is not widely known today, but it must not be overlooked when evaluating the nature of the "spirit" that moved the early Pentecostals to talk in tongues and develop noisy worship services.

Several serious works on tongue-talking give evidence that this practice is characteristic of pagan worship! Tongue-talking is reported, for example, among Eskimos, Lapps, Japanese cultic groups during srances, in Ethiopia among the Zar cult, and among pagan worshipers in Malaysia, Indonesia, Siberia, China, Korea, Arabia, and Burma. It may be noted that the Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology refers to the use of "tongues" by spiritualists and mediums in America and Europe.[6]

Students of the Azusa Street revival point out that the two primary groups of people that formed the congregation there were African Americans, whose recent ancestors had practiced glossolalia in pagan worship in Africa, and Armenians from Russia, who also had practiced glossolalia in their occultic services.

Do not these things point toward the conclusion that it was the spirit of Satan that planted the "first wave of the Holy Spirit," the third outflowering of which today traces its roots directly back to those Azusa Street beginnings?

The Second Wave

The "second wave of the Holy Spirit" strengthened Pentecostalism and legitimized it in the eyes of mainstream Christianity. Peter Wagner states that "the second phase of this movement began after World War II when Pentecostal leaders such as Thomas Zimmerman of the Assemblies of God set out to join the mainstream. The beginnings were slow. Some of the Pentecostal denominations began to gain 'respectability' by affiliating with organizations such as the National Association of evangelicals. Thereby they neutralized the opinion that Pentecostalism was a false sect.... In 1960, an Episcopal priest in Van Nuys, California, Dennis Bennett, shared with his congregation that he had experienced the Holy Spirit in the Pentecostal way, and the charismatic movement had its start."

"The main distinguishing feature of these new movements," Prof. Wagner continues significantly, "is that they are appropriating the dynamic of spiritual gifts [my italics] in a new and exciting way. Through their discovery of how the gifts of the Spirit were intended to operate in the Body of Christ, the Holy Spirit is now being transformed from abstract doctrine to dynamic experience."[7]

This second wave was marked by two major factors: (a) acceptance and popularization of the practices of the first wave and (b) "discovery" of spiritual gifts and a new way of perceiving their operation in the Body of Christ. A major outcome was the strong acceptance of the charismatic movement in the Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist, and many other Protestant churches and also even in the Roman Catholic Church.

The second wave did not penetrate all Christian churches. The Seventh-day Adventist movement was virtually untouched by it, except perhaps for a short-lived experience among some students from an Adventist college in California.

The Third Wave

Dr. Wagner notes that, "The Third Wave is a new moving of the Holy Spirit among evangelicals who, for one reason or another, have chosen not to identify with either the Pentecostals or the charismatics.... I see it as mainly a movement beginning in the 1980s and gathering momentum through the closing years of the twentieth century.... In it the Holy Spirit is ministering in the same miraculous way but with a different flavor. I see the Third Wave as distinct from, but at the same time very similar to the first and second waves. They have to be similar because it is the same Spirit of God [his italics] who is doing tne work .... Within it the sick are being healed, the lame are walking, demons are being cast out.... The major variation comes in the understanding of the meaning of baptism in the Holy Spirit and the role of tongues in authenticating this."[8]

In other words, according to Wagner, the third wave is different from the first two in that (a) the more conservative Christians have accepted the teachings of the first two waves, and (b) the gift of tongues, although still practiced, is not considered primary evidence of baptism by the Holy Spirit. The new approach allows for equality of all spiritual gifts and, thus, for the more willing acceptance of the Pentecostal theology of spiritual gifts.

Wagner is right in stating that the three waves are from the same spirit, but he is wrong in assuming that they are from the Spirit of God, as we shall see.

"Faith is the Key"

We need now to examine how the "new discovery of spiritual gifts" that we read about above becomes "exciting" and "dynamic" in one's personal experience.

Prof. Wagner says, "Faith is the key.... Faith is expectation ... that He has gifted us and that we will be richly fulfilled if we are doing His will through using spiritual gifts.... Faith tells us that God wants His church to grow."[9] Here is the beginning of the temptation to "sanctified covetousness," the seemingly innocent promise of "church growth" through the use of spiritual gifts as understood by Pentecostalism.

What does this influential Pentecostal scholar mean when he talks about the "faith" that is imperative if we are to realize "that God wants His church to grow," and to realize that we have been given spiritual gifts to make it happen?

Wagner says, "Let's think of Biblical faith as including four facets.... The first facet is saving faith. This is basic, and it is a prerequisite to all other facets.... The second facet is sanctifying faith. This faith is a fruit of the spirit.... For most of my Christian experience these two were the only facets of faith I knew anything about.... The third facet of faith I like to call possibility-thinking faith. The name comes from the title of a book by Pastor Robert Schuller, Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking.... This is faith for setting goals. A somewhat mysterious but important dynamic [my italics] is released through intelligent and courageous goal setting....

"The fourth facet of faith," Wagner continues, "is fourth dimension faith. Again, I have taken it from a book title, this time from The Fourth Dimension, by Paul Yonggi Cho. Cho is pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, Korea, the world's largest church. The membership has surpassed 500,000. Cho understands and practices the first three levels of faith, but he adds another. He believes God for supernatural signs and wonders. He sees God do miraculous things as a part of his everyday ministry.... This fourth facet of faith is perhaps the most characteristic element of the movement we are calling the 'Third Wave.' Most of us who have been nurtured in our Christian experience through mainstream evangelicalism have been taught little or nothing about fourth-dimension faith."[10]

Let us try to understand the third and fourth facets of faith.

Third Facet of Faith

The third facet of faith Wagner calls "possibility-thinking," using a term he says he got from Robert Schuller, the famous television preacher. It is the same as the "positive mental attitude" spoken of in the writings of Norman Vincent Peale, Zig Ziglar, Og Mandino, and others. Although it soundsdeceptivelycommon-sensical, it actually finds its recent beginnings in the work of Napoleon Hill, whose dependence on occultic teachings is blatant.

Schuller's "possibility thinking faith," upon which Peter Wagner builds his "third facet of faith," seems to be a "Christianized" form of the teachings of Napoleon Hill.

Hill was commissioned by Andrew Carngie to discover and write about the secrets of success. Carnegie financed Hill's research, which spanned many years. Hill's undertaking culminated in his writing Think and Grow Rich, in which he reports that he got the secret for success from sources that were not human but were the spirits of "innerguides ... ascended masters," including "Emerson, Paine, Edison, Darwin, Lincoln, Burbank, Napoleon, Ford and Carnegie." "Every night,..." he says, "I held an imaginary council meeting with this group whom I called my 'Invisible Counselors.'... After some months of this nightly procedure ... these imaginary figures became apparently real.... These meetings became so realistic that I became fearful of their consequences, and discontinued them for several months."[11]

Hill adds: "Now and again I have had evidence that unseen friends hover about me, unknowable to the ordinary senses. In my studies I discovered there is a group of strange beings who maintain a school of wisdom.... The School has Masters who can disembody themselves and travel instantly to any place they choose ... to give knowledge directly, by voice.... I knew that one of these Masters had come across thousands of miles, through the night, into my study." This Master told Hill, "You have earned the right to reveal a Supreme Secret to others.... You have been under the guidance of the Great School."[12]

Wagner says "possibility thinking faith" is "mysterious." We can reduce the mystery if we see its occult connection! "Possibility thinking faith" is a duplication of sorcerous practices of shamanism and of mental alchemy, hard-core occultic practices. Use of vivid visualization and mental imaging are techniques that are the foundation of occultic magic and that have their roots in Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, and the religion of the ancient Egyptians in the worship of their god Thoth (Hermes to the Greeks).

Shakti Gawain, the best-selling New Age writer, states, "Visualization is magic in the truest and highest meaning of the word.... Creative visualization is the technique of using your imagination to create what you want ... a state of consciousness in which you know that you are the constant creator Of your life."[13]

Stellar, another proponent of spiritualism, says that "visual imagination is a regular part of the training for psychics and healers in ... Spiritist churches."[14] David Conway, an occultist, says that "the technique of visualization is something you will gradually master, and indeed must master if you are to make any progress at all in magic.... It is our only means of affecting the etheric atmosphere."[15]

The Dalai Lama is quoted in Journal of Transpersonal Psychology as saying that "the use of the imagination to generate or visualize an image in the mind's eye" is an integral part of tantric Yoga. He adds that this ancient practice is related to similar techniques recently adopted in modern psychotherapy.[16]

Schuller's connection with paganism becomes clearer when we review his stance on transcendental meditation and his promotion of Hindu teachings. He says, "It is important to remember that meditation in any form is the harnessing, by human means, of God's divine laws.... We are endowed with a great many powers and forces that we do not yet understand.... The most effective mantras employ the 'M' sound. You can get the feel of it by repeating the words, 'I am, I am' many times over... Transcendental Meditation or TM... is not a religion nor is it necessarily anti-Christian."[17]

It may be important to note, however, that in fact TM is a religious practice, one that is used in Hinduism, and that the repetition of "I am, I am" over and over is a direct replication of Hindu meditation, which is the very first step in the Hindu attempt to find the universe within oneself.

It is evident that the third wave of the Holy Spirit, which has roots in the occult at Azusa Street, has assumed an additional occultic dimension which it calls the third aspect of faith. But this is not all.

The Fourth Facet of Faith

A detailed explanation of the so-called fourth aspect of faith--which Wagner says is vital to success with spiritual gifts and is the "most characteristic element of the third wave"--is found in Paul Yonggi Cho's two-volume set called The Fourth Dimension.[18] He claims that it was the Holy Spirit that gave him his understanding of this "fourth-dimension faith."

Cho notes that a line is one-dimensional, a plane is two-dimensional, and a cube is three-dimensional. The second dimension, he says, controls the first, and, likewise, the third dimension controls both the second and the first dimensions. Cho claims that God told him that "the spirit is the fourth dimension" and that it includes and controls the third dimension, producing a creation of order and beauty." He continues: "There are three spiritual forces in the earth. The Spirit of God, the spirit of man, and the spirit of Satan.... All three spirits are in the realm of the fourth dimension, so naturally spirits can hover over the material third dimension and exercise powers."[19]

Cho goes on to assert that it was through the fourth dimension that God visualized the idea of creating the earth, and that He then incubated the idea much as a hen incubates her eggs, until at length He saw His visualized earth become a reality. Further, Cho claims that Satan and man, who, he says, abide like God in the spiritual fourth dimension, can also create and control the physical world! He believes that it is through this process that people are healed by both Christians and pagans. The Christians, he says, use the good power of the fourth dimension, and the pagans use Satan's evil power to heal and do miracles.

This fourth-dimension teaching is not original with Cho, nor is it a separate facet of faith. It is a continuation of the "possibility thinking faith" that requires visualization. It has been an integral part of pagan practice for thousands of years in India, Africa, China, and many other eastern countries. Although Cho claims that God gave him this wonderful message directly, one can find it in The Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology without any perceptible divine intervention!

Our brief review of the three waves of the Holy Spirit and our briefer study of the required third and fourth facets of faith have given us evidence that prophecy is being fulfilled before our very eyes. Revelation 16:13-14, Matthew 24:24, 2 Thessalonians 2:9, and many other prophesies have warned us about the deceptions we are to face in the last days. Spiritualism has, in fact, already become a part of apostate Protestantism and of Catholicism. The three institutions have already very largely come together, just as the Bible told us they would.

"Church Growth"

Before closing this article, we must return briefly to the engaging temptation of "church growth" that we touched on briefly at the beginning. "Church growth" promises a rapid and dramatic numerical increase in one's congregation. It provides much of the drive behind the third wave and does much to make it appear legitimate.

The "church growth" strategy of the third wave Pentecostal/charismatic movement is based on pragmatism. Those who promote it find their barometer of its truth not in the Bible but in quantifiable results. If a church grows, they seem to say, what it is doing must be right. Here is the temptation Satan offers, so irresistible to most Christians.[20] Although Wagner, like other Pentecostals, claims that he would not allow his pragmatism in church growth to influence his theology, the facts appear otherwise. He depends on intuition, experience, and his faith in other men instead of depending entirely on the Word of God.

Wagner appears to be entranced with the "power evangelism" of his friend, John Wimber, who himself has adopted many occultic teachings through people like Agnes Sanford, Francis MacNutt, Carl Jung, and Morton Kelsey. Christians who are prepared to give up biblical truth because of a preoccupation with mega-churches and who would judge truth by head count, may go along with Wagner and the third wave of the Holy Spirit; but those Christians who demand that truth be measured against the inspired Word of God must unconditionally reject any participation in the "third wave of the Holy Spirit."

The Third Wave and Adventists

What does our discussion here mean for Seventh-day Adventists?

The third wave is lapping at the shores of our own movement. To some members, it seems to say, "Come on in; the water's fine."

Peter Wagner's influence as a leading church growth specialist extends well beyond Fuller Theological Seminary, where he teaches. Through his books, guest lectures, seminars, and videos, he continues to shape the views of students, teachers, pastors, and administrators interested in church growth. His book Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow is being promoted actively in some quarters of Adventism. The language of "church growth," "discipline," "prayer warriors," "power encounter,"and soon is popular, as are the songs and "celebration" worship style that characterize the third wave.

But if the charismatic third wave looks good to some, it appears alarming to others. Many Seventh-day Adventists have been troubled by aspects of the spiritual gifts emphasis that seem unbiblical, and many have expressed discomfort with the worship style that says, "If you want me to worship you, God, you'll have to let me do it my way."

The late Dr. Gerhard Hasel noted that "a significant part of the current 'third wave' of the charismatic renewal movement is the celebration church movement."[21]

The ecstatic worship format developed during the first and second wave of the Holy Spirit has been modified during the third wave of the Holy Spirit to become the "celebration church movement." It is what might be called the more disciplined, "cultured," "user friendly" child of the ecstatic worship of the Pentecostals, that is more acceptable in those churches that wish to maintain ties to their biblical heritage and, at least on the surface, want to keep their distance from the Pentecostals and the stigma attached to Azusa Street. In many Adventist circles we can also see the influence of "power evangelism," especially with the experimentation with "praying in the spirit" and an emphasis on miraculous healing.

Seventh-day Adventists must not, under any circumstances, model our administration, theology, or worship on the patterns of the Pentecostal/charismatic churches. Our mission is not the same as theirs, therefore, our methods cannot be the same as theirs. They want to bring the unchurched to church; we want to bring even the churched to Christ. They do not feel a mission to convert other Christians; we have a mission to call God's people out of Babylon. They change their message to suit the seeker; we help the lost to be changed themselves through the three angels' messages of love.

They promote the discovery of spiritual gifts according to each member's feelings; we ask the Lord to sanctify our feelings that we may all witness. Although every person may have an area of ministry that is more congenial than others, we believe that every Christian is commissioned by Christ to teach the Good News-and that everyone is also called on to be a generous giver, helpful, hospitable, and kind.

The charismatic movement has replaced the World Council of Churches as the preeminent force uniting Christian churches, it has mesmerized much of the world with an astounding power to heal the sick, and it has changed the form of Christian worship. To prove itself to be from the Spirit of God, it points to its miraculous powers--the very powers that the Bible wams us against.

Says Ellen G. White, "If those through whom cures are performed are disposed, on account of these manifestations, to excuse their neglect of the law of God and continue in disobedience, though they have power to any and every extent, it does not follow that they have the great power of God. On the contrary, it is the miracle-working power of the great deceiver" (Selected Messages, 2:50, 51).

"The last great delusion is soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures. By their testimony every statement and every miracle must be tested" (The Great Controversy, p. 593).

"God's Word declares that Satan will work miracles. He will make people sick, and then will suddenly remove from them his satanic power. They will then be regarded as healed. These works of apparent healing will bring Seventh-day Adventists to the test" (Selected Messages, 2:53).

Is this the time for Seventh-day Adventists to seek "new light" on worship, spiritual gifts, church growth, and spiritual healing from the third wave Pentecostal/charismatic churches? Ellen White warned: "If God has any new light to communicate, He will let His chosen and beloved understand it, without their going to have their minds enlightened by hearing those who are in darkness and error.... God is displeased with us when we go to listen to error, without being obliged to go ... and the light around us becomes contaminated with the darkness" (Early Writings, pp. 124, 125).

Notes

[1]. C. Peter Wagner, Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow (Glendale,Calif.: Regal Books, 1979), p. 15.

[2]. Wagner, The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit (Ann Arbor, Mich.: Servant Publications, 1988), p. 16.

[3]. Walter J. Hollenweger, The Pentecostals (Peabody, Mass.: Hendricson, 1988), pp. 22-23.

[4]. Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1971), p. 110.

[5]. Michael Moriarty, The New Charismatics (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1992), p. 23.

[6]. Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology (Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research Co., 1991).

[7]. Wagner, Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow, p. 14.

[8]. Wagner, The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit, p. 18.

[9]. Wagner, Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow, p. 226.

[10]. Wagner, The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit, pp. 37-40.

[11]. Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich (New York: Ballentine Books, 1983), pp. 215-219.

[12]. Napoleon Hill, Grow Rich with Peace of Mind (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1967), pp. 158-160.

[13]. Shakti Gawain, Creative Visualization (Berkeley, Calif.: Whatever Pub., 1978), pp. 13, 20, my italics.

[14]. Psi Healing, p. 41.

[15]. David Conway, Magic: An Occult Primer (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1972, 1973), p. 59.

[16]. Quoted in Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon, The Seduction of Christianity, (Eugene, Ore.: Harvest House, 1985), p. 140.

[17]. Robert Schuller, Peace of Mind Through Possibility Thinking (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977), pp. 131-132.

[18]. Paul Yonggi Cho, The Fourth Dimension, 2 vols. (Plainfield, N.J.: Logos International, 1979, 1983).

[19]. Ibid., 2:35-85.

[20]. See Bill Hull, "Is the Church Growth Movement Really Working?" in Power Religion, ed. Michael Scott Horton (Chicago: Moody, 1992), pp. 141-159.

[21]. Gerhard F. Hasel, Speaking In Tongues (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Adventist Theological Society, 1991), p. 9.