Friday, December 31, 2004

 

Dear Pastor,

 

By God’s grace and through His Word, God mercifully brought both of us to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ in the months following the September 11, 2001 attack on the Twin Towers.  At that time, God the Father drew us to Jesus Christ through the reading of the Gospel according to John, using His faithful servants, our mentors in Christ.  He invited us to place our trust in His righteousness, and His faithfulness to His covenant promise to bring us safely through this life on Earth, and into eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.  We began attending [SmallTown] Assembly of God at that time, in January of 2002.  We were touched, broken and healed in a deeply personal way by our Heavenly Father through the ministry and fellowship of [SmallTown] AG, and we began to deeply love a number of our new brothers and sisters in Christ, most of whom had been walking with the Lord for a number of years.  Having both been raised in the rigid, unscriptural and legalistic Roman Catholic religion, the freedom of worship and prayer at [SmallTown] AG was exciting to us, and we experienced such joy when after several months, the chains fell off and we were able to worship and rejoice in the Lord with our hands raised, and lift our voices with genuinely jubilant hearts, in praise of His glory, beauty, power, mercy and grace -- which we had never known before. 

 

Throughout our brief walk with Jesus, our Lord has answered our prayers for further, deep sorrow and repentance for sin, and we have truly begun to personally realize God’s supernatural forgiveness, peace and love through the teaching, preaching, counsel, prayer and worship at [SmallTown] Assembly of God.  For that we are forever grateful.  We have also learned a great deal under the ministries of a number of other teachers on the radio and over the Internet, and our faith has been challenged, stirred and increased through all these ministries.  When teachings heard outside of church didn’t seem to line up exactly with those particular to the Assemblies of God denomination, it caused a little discomfort but we always worked through it and did our best to cling to the teachings of our local church.  As we grew in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, however, we found that we were more and more often driven to our Bibles to compare the teachings we would hear from any ministry, including that of [SmallTown] Assembly of God, to the full counsel of the Word of God.  A number of things remained unclear but we figured we were young in Christ and that everything would eventually settle into place.

 

We have spent a great deal of time over the past nearly three years praying for further repentance; a closer walk with Jesus; a hunger for His Word; a deeper knowledge of the riches of His scriptural revelation; a passion for the lost; broken-heartedness over sin; and spiritual discernment in these days of intense deception throughout the world, especially among the professing Church of Jesus Christ.  We’ve experimented with serving God in a few ministries offered through [SmallTown] AG in the three years during which we have fellowshipped there, to include a brief encounter with teaching Sunday school to 5- and 6-year olds, and small parts in the Holiday productions.  As you are aware, Paula finally settled in worshipping and enjoying the ministry and weekly fellowship found through participating in the sanctuary choir, for more than a year. 

 

However, the time has now come where a number of philosophical issues have left us at a crossroads.  While we have, in the past, overlooked a number of concerns due to our enjoyment of our fellowship at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, we have been brought to the realization that through our membership and ministry at [SmallTown] AG (and especially through Paula’s highly visible participation in the sanctuary choir and Paul’s occasional service in the music ministry), it may be assumed by others that we are both in full agreement with the doctrines taught, and philosophies employed by the church leadership and ministries at [SmallTown] AG, and it has brought us to deep conviction.

 

Through the beginning stages of building the new church, we have prayerfully considered our future with [SmallTown] Assembly of God, contemplating how we might be involved from the standpoint of fellowship, ministry and financial support.  During this process, a deep burden has grown in our hearts that someone who may respond to our witness, and follow in our footsteps by making [SmallTown] AG their church home, may be led astray, and perhaps even spiritually or emotionally harmed or confused, by some of the same things that have troubled us through the past three years.  These concerns have led us through a prayerful, lengthy, well-researched and excruciating process of weighing the positives and negatives, and, through great travail and with heavy hearts, we have come to the conclusion that we must part ways and submit our resignation from membership at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, effective immediately.  We are leaving because, above all, God has ordained through His Word that we leave.  In order to bring us to this decision, we believe firmly that the Lord has guided us toward several Bible preaching ministries; a number of fellow believers sharing the same burden; prayer for growth in discernment and greater knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ; and a desire for increased familiarity and understanding of the Holy Scriptures.

 

We would like to take a moment to clarify these concerns, and pray that you will receive these explanations with open hearts, as we have not come to this decision carelessly; we are more than convinced that we cannot possibly be the only ones with one or more of these concerns.  You may find it surprising that, first and foremost, is our concern about [SmallTown] Assembly of God’s stand on the doctrine of eternal security in salvation.

 

The Issue of Eternal Security

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Once Jesus saved us three years ago, we were so incredibly overjoyed and jubilant with the fact that we had received the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (and could trust that it was God who would make sure that we would never be lost), we began sharing this wonderful gospel of grace and forgiveness with all of our close friends and family.  We could barely be stopped; we were so completely aflame with excitement and love for God and this incredible Jesus whom we never correctly knew, as the Jesus we had “believed in” before was the unscriptural Jesus taught in the Roman Catholic religion.

 

This new revelation was of a God Who knew us before the beginning of time; a Jesus Christ Who is the Creator of all things; a Heavenly, Holy Father who knew all of the horrible, wretched things we would do throughout our lives, yet loved us so much that He sent His Son to take all of the punishment and payment for our sins upon His own body; and a Holy Spirit Who would condescend to dwelling within these wretched, sinful, faithless, rebellious bodies of ours in order to mark us for adoption for all eternity as children of the Living God, empower us for service by faith, convict us of sin, and begin transforming us into the likeness of our precious Jesus.

 

This new God -- the true and living God of the Bible -- is a God who is a mighty, Holy God of justice and wrath toward those who reject Him as He has revealed Himself in the Bible.  He is to righteously judge those who take for granted His revealed Truth, and who deny their complete wickedness and rely on self-righteousness and self-rule, versus trusting in the righteousness of God and His promise of protection for those who love Him.  But to our overwhelming joy, this new God of the Bible has also demonstrated Himself to be the keeper of all of His covenants; a longsuffering, gracious God of perfect faithfulness, Who could be counted trustworthy to preserve the souls of all who confessed their depraved natures and evil actions, placing their faith in His goodness and His faithfulness for the salvation of their souls.  And these, by His grace alone, illustrate their love for Him as a manifestation of His indwelling Spirit by beginning to walk in obedience and faith by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, in a living, breathing relationship lived out in such things as supernatural love, worship, trust, transparency, repentance, service and sacrificial living.

 

All of a sudden we were privy to the glorious knowledge that we didn’t have to work for our own salvation, and, to quote the great reformer, “the gates of heaven flew open” and we walked through.  We had found the Father Who would never reject us, never leave us, never forsake us, no matter what… because He is so faithful and true, not because we have behaved perfectly.  And from that point on, we were free to experience peace in our souls, and delight in the richness of His grace for the rest of our lives.  We were walking in such perfect joy and freedom for most of the first year of our salvation, when this amazing new God was being revealed to us through the Scriptures… we were sharing His good news, and celebrating Him tirelessly with everyone we knew!  We were so persistent in our witnessing that we even drove many near and dear ones away as we offended them with our persistent talk about Jesus!

 

How that all changed…

 

We took a special Sunday School class offered at [SmallTown] AG perhaps two years ago, which, if we recall correctly, was entitled, “Can Salvation Be Lost?”  As former Roman Catholics, we were intrigued by this question, especially because we had been accosting our works-based Roman Catholic families and friends with the gospel of the hope of eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ for several months.  To us, as newborn babes in Christ, it was a no-brainer, but we assumed the class would help further solidify our faith, and our position, that eternal life through trusting in the righteousness and faithfulness of Jesus Christ (and not our own) was indeed eternal, and the only hope upon which a soul could rest.   For three or four weeks, the scriptural arguments for and against eternal security were presented, with the final, ominous conclusion being that, yes, one who has been born again, or saved, could indeed lose their salvation.

 

Again, as former Roman Catholics now saved by God’s grace, it was completely unnerving to learn how it was possible that we, by our own power, could actually reverse the entire transaction of the Cross of Christ in our own lives, and it could all be hopelessly lost.  We learned that this gift of new spiritual life, which God Himself calls “eternal”, could actually end at any time, because we could actually sin beyond the scope of God’s grace, and beyond the perfection of Christ’s sacrifice.

 

Furthermore, throughout our time at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, in a number of sermons in Church, we who were born-again believers in Jesus Christ were told in no uncertain terms that we could go to Hell if we sinned persistently enough and didn’t repent.  We then began to ponder and meditate upon a God Who might very well cast us away; a Father Who had adopted us (knowing beforehand everything we would do for the rest of our lives), but Who was actually quite likely to break His promise and forsake us; and a Savior who expected us (two senseless, ignorant, rebellious beasts before Him for more than 35 years) to suddenly be perfect once we trusted in Him, or He might send either one of us to Hell on Judgment Day.

 

All of a sudden the gospel of grace and the assurance of eternal life that we had been preaching was all a big fat lie, and we became suddenly aware, and deeply convicted, of the grave deception we had been spreading under the guise of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And, in many respects, we were back in the Roman Catholic state of mind, bound once again in a legalistic, performance-based “religious practice” that left us disillusioned, frustrated, even hopeless at times… with a Heavenly Father who loved us when we were good, and hated us when we were bad.  We suddenly found ourselves to be wandering sheep with a Shepherd who was no longer understanding and compassionate to our temptations and trials; and Whom we could no longer trust completely, to seek after us and release us from the briars of sin that so easily entangle, come gently to our sides and set us upright when we fell down and failed Him; or anoint our infested heads with oil.  This Shepherd, if we were to go astray, was no longer the Good Shepherd of Luke 15, Who would “leave ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it”.  We deeply considered this Shepherd who would toss us into the flames of Hell for all eternity if we succumbed to temptation and became disobedient for a spell, and the fear of condemnation set in once again.

 

What joy, what hope, is there to be found in a God Who, because of our unrighteousness, would go to the extent of dying for us, drawing us to Himself, opening our eyes and receiving us, and cloaking us in His righteousness -- only to strip us naked and forsake us if we failed to meet his demands for perfection?   All of a sudden we couldn’t rely upon the strength and faithfulness of a God who promised in Psalm 73 that while “my flesh and my heart may fail… God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

 

Now, if we have understood the Gospel of Jesus Christ correctly, God saved us by His grace, through no merit of our own, by our faith in the Word of God, initially delivered to us through a completely unusual love bestowed upon us by two of His disciples; a disciple-led study -- and Spirit-led comprehension of -- the Gospel of John.  Our saving faith was subsequently reinforced through trusting in the promises delivered in other books of the New Testament, then further strengthened as we increased our exposure and understanding of the Old Testament, and God’s utter and complete faithfulness to His Word.  Now, the way we’ve come to understand the whole of God’s Word, we have the option of either believing, and trusting in God’s promises, unto eternal life, or rejecting and doubting God’s promises, unto eternal destruction.  We will choose to believe the Word of God. 

 

·         In John 5:24 Jesus said,   "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

 

·         He said in John 6:37, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

 

·         Jesus again makes the same proclamation in John 6:47, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."

 

·         He reiterates in John 10:27-28, that "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."

 

·         In I John 5:13 God tells us through the Apostle John,  "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life."

 

·         The Apostle Peter, in I Peter 1:5, speaks of those “who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

 

·         Paul expressed this faith to Timothy in II Timothy 1:12,  "...for I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day."

 

·         And in Romans 8:35-39, we are faced with a question:   "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  As it is written, ‘For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

 

It simply doesn’t add, “unless Paul dies with unconfessed sin,” or, “unless Paula neglects to forgive someone before she dies,” or “unless Paul and Paula, whom I have justified by grace, through faith, really blow it by going on a sin binge and die as a result, without repenting.”  Because we have been chosen by God to have our eyes opened and invited to receive His salvation, and have trusted in Him, our God promises in Isaiah 54:10 that, “For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”  He assures us in Psalm 103 that He has “not dealt with [us] according to [our] sins, nor rewarded [us] according to [our] iniquities.  He  “knows [our] frame, and know[s] that [we are] but dust.”

 

There are countless scriptural references that defend the doctrine of eternal security.  Admittedly, there are quite a number of passages also presented by those who teach that eternal life can be lost.  We have spent a great deal of time reading, reflecting and comparing the contexts of these texts, however, and have come to a certain peace that if something is made very abundantly clear in many places in God’s Word -- and especially if the same concept seems to be supported by the Canon of Scripture as a whole, that the passages which seem to directly contradict that over-riding concept, must mean something else.

 

Please understand, it is not our intention to use this letter as a forum to make a convincing argument for or against eternal security, as it would be impossible to do so within this limited space and time; and there are so many scholarly works already written to support and refute the doctrine.  However, because we have presented so many passages in support of security, we should, at the very least, present one of the most convincing passages commonly used to refute the concept of “once saved, always saved”.   In Hebrews 10:38 we read, "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."    Why, look -- there it is in writing -- if we draw back, God will draw back.  Or, if we don’t persevere until the end, God will not persevere until the end.  But so many commentators fail to mention the passage that immediately follows, where the writer states that due to the preserving power of the Holy Spirit, as truly born again believers in Jesus Christ, "…we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

 

We are committed in our faith that any scriptures that may be misinterpreted to read that a truly born again believer can lose their salvation, must refer to those who have a professed faith (the plants springing up from the seeds that landed on rocky soil, which started vigorously and then died off due to their shallow roots) and not a true saving faith.  And, with respect to scriptures used to illustrate the possible “cutting off and destruction” of the redeemed in Christ who turn back and choose to live in sin and rebellion… if we are to believe that the Lord is a “Man of His Word”, the passages simply must refer to His destruction of the flesh, in order to preserve the pure testimony of Christ, as is illustrated by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 5:5, when he speaks of delivering “such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

 

If we are to have any hope in Christ, we can accept that yes, God will come to the end of His rope with respect to the preservation of our wicked flesh, but if He is truly the Covenant Keeper that He so boldly claims to be, it certainly appears to us that, as truly born-again children of God, He will never come to the end of His rope with regard to the disposition of our eternal souls.  Yes, we can severely (and very sadly) damage our fellowship with God our Father.  Absolutely.  But now that we have been justified and cloaked in His righteousness, we cannot sin beyond His love for us, nor beyond the perfection of His Sacrifice, nor the covenant that He alone is able to fulfill in our lives.  If we begin to drift away from Him, back, to the sinful thoughts or actions to which we have been accustomed for so many years – even doubts and fears -- does His Holy Spirit within us not torment us we finally succumb to His persistent beckoning and come crawling back in repentance?  If we were to ignore His passionate rebukes over and over again, He may well give us over to our own sin and allow us to die in complete misery.  But He has promised us in Philippians 1:6 that it is “He [Who] has begun a good work in [us]” and Who “will perfect it until the Day of Christ Jesus.”  If we trust in any God but this, there is no hope for us, as He has proven time and again, that our flesh and our tendencies are completely unfaithful and rebellious toward Him.

 

Why do we feel that the teaching that “salvation can be lost” may be dangerous?

 

The Scriptures teach that there are so many who PROFESS to be saved, witness the ever-familiar Matthew 7:21-23… "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. "Many will say to Me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'”    It would seem clear that these people are they who have confessed a mental assent to the identity of Jesus, and the historicity of the life He lived and the act He performed, and thereby genuinely believe that they are saved -- but because He calls them “lawless” does that not imply that they are still living under condemnation, and the power of sin?  Is it not likely that they believe they are redeemed, because they have said a prayer and been told that they are saved… and when they hear that they could lose their salvation because of sin in their life, would it not further convince them that they have salvation, even though they could lose it -- if they push God far enough… but how far is too far?  The Scriptures simply do not tell us.

 

And so, wouldn’t it be safe to assume that, comfortable in their sin, they continue to put off repentance because they remain under the sentence of eternal death, not yet having been confronted by the possibility have never come to repentance and a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ?  But this false assurance that they are already saved – and the confidence and hope that perhaps they are “probably still okay” because they haven’t yet pushed God beyond His limits -- Oh yes, they have definitely “said the prayer” and have a mental assent to the truths of the gospel… But, well, it would just seem to be such a terrible thing if they were to die in this state, going to eternal conscious torment in Hell, versus being warned that if one is truly saved, and has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, God will begin to make changes in them.  The redeemed person will begin to reject sinful patterns, because it is the Holy Spirit that is working within them to sanctify them.  It would seem to be much more reasonable to be preaching to them, and warning them, that if such changes are not being executed in their lives – if the Holy Spirit is not daily stripping sinful behavior away with His sanctifying presence, that they may not truly have received salvation? 

 

While the truly saved Christian may occasionally fall into temptation, the 3rd Chapter of 1 John seems to teach that if one is truly saved, continual patterns of unrepentant sinful behavior are not to be expected, nor tolerated in one’s life.  If a professed Christian is unrepentant, unchanging, and continuing in a regular pattern of sinful behavior, would it not seem wiser to warn them that they may not have salvation in the first place, rather than warning them that they could “lose their salvation”?  We defer to 2 Corinthians 13:5, where the Apostle Paul explains that those professing faith must continually “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.  Or do you not know this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? -- unless indeed you fail the test!?”

 

Church Growth Agenda - Purpose Driven or Lead by the Holy Spirit?

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We have to confess that we have simply not been overcome with what seems to be a church-wide passion for the “Vision” of the new church building and how it would help [SmallTown] Assembly of God to “impact the community for Christ”.  When we have considered the desires of our hearts for our local church fellowship, we would have to confess that we would like to be at a church to which we could confidently and enthusiastically invite others, without exposing them to a great number of questionable teachings.  That which we earnestly desire is Godly, sound Biblical teaching of the Holy Scriptures and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Also important would be that the makeup of the people ministering at the church -- and those to whom the church body is ministering during regular gatherings at the facility, should be predominantly born-again Christians.  That’s what we would call “the foundations for a good church” that we could recommend to others.

 

Over the past year or so, however, we have been stricken with the ominous sense that there has been somewhat of a paradigm change taking place at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, whether it be with the 40 Days of Purpose Campaign; an intensified, overwhelming focus on raising funds for the new church facility; the flashy, glossy colorful new letterheads, brochures and banners proclaiming the theme of “Possessing the Land”; and the introduction of, and/or dramatic increase in, what can best be described as “buzz” words and phrases like leadership, the vision, the mission, state of the art, reaching out to the unchurched, relevant teaching, authentic relationships, and emergent community.

 

Back when the concept of the exciting new church facility was initially being considered and presented to the church body, one thing that really stood out in our minds is how, several times, the importance of having a top-notch nursery facility was stressed, because that would be a major factor in drawing in young families with children.   Also, it struck a funny chord within us when initially there were whisperings that there might be a bookstore and coffee shop in the new facility. 

 

The best way we can describe this paradigm shift was that all of a sudden it felt as if [SmallTown] AG had been taken over by an outcome-driven public relations and marketing firm, and that, over the course of time, Jesus Christ was no longer the focus… our faith was in the strategy we would employ, rather than in the Word of God and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ… Jesus Christ was no longer the Purpose… Jesus Christ was no longer the Builder… and the gospel of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ was no longer the means by which the church was built.

 

All of a sudden, the church was being built based upon fleshly desires for comfort, convenience, and what seem to be a whole lot of programs aimed at making the church a whole lot like the world, in order to draw the world into the church.  Beginning with the Purpose campaign, there seems to have been an intensified focus upon ensuring that the entire church body be fixed upon the same vision at all times.  But the vision seemed not to have been Christ… for all intents and purposes, it seemed to be “the Vision”. Most recently, sign-up sheets appeared on the walls throughout the hallways, where we were to publicly post our names, and dates for which we would commit to fast and pray with a focus on the vision of the new church; and then there were the professionally printed “Possessing the Land” devotional books, and the eye-popping folders depicting the history of [SmallTown] AG and the vision for the future, complete with a 5”x4” glossy inspirational refrigerator magnet featuring an aerial shot of the property at Lisbon & Pilgrim, reminding us to Catch the vision.  Given all the exciting new changes, it has been difficult to fight the suspicions within us that the Bait of Satan book study on the deadly “spirit of offense” was strategically planned at a point in time where the membership might have begun to get a little fidgety with the introduction of this new church prototype.

 

When we first started attending [SmallTown] Assembly of God in January of 2002, the thing that really struck us was how “different” it was from everything else we had ever experienced.  Having been fully immersed and sold out to the world and the god of this world for our entire lives, our souls were hungering and thirsting for a place of escape once we found salvation in Christ Jesus.  And [SmallTown] AG seemed so radically different from the world, at least back then.  But now, the world has crept in, wearing the mask of a new, post-modernistic evangelical Christianity, complete with pop-culture themes and secular inspirational techniques, placing the emphasis upon employing approaches which make the church fellowship appealing to the world, while putting on the back burner the true spiritual needs of the reborn children of God.  It’s blatant and unmistakable to the discerning eye. 

 

A focused “buzz word” search and numerous personal inquiries led us to the Willow Creek Association web site, and we gave the “Find a WCA Member Church” search engine a try.  Lo and behold… the pieces of the paradigm-change puzzle really began to fall into place when we saw [SmallTown] Assembly of God in the offerings -- a discovery which confirmed our hypothesis that we have been witnessing the introduction of the philosophies of Rick Warren’s “Purpose-Driven Church” and Bill Hybel’s Willow Creek movements -- which are spreading over this nation like wildfire.  While Christian in appearance and sincere in intention, the greater evidence seems to show that they are, by their very nature, predominantly man-powered and flesh-inspired.  Their church growth and management, seeker-friendly, vision-charged, and change-centered methodologies are witnesses to this.

 

As we looked further into testimonies of individuals whose churches have been affected and radically changed by the new church growth phenomenon, and read countless reports compiled by Christian ministries who gather information on church movements, it is clear that among these powerful, charismatic church growth gurus, there is an apparent “rubbing of shoulders” with spiritual resources and influences rooted in a quagmire of ecumenism, new age philosophies, universal spirituality, and secular psychological belief systems which derive their methodologies and doctrines from sources other than the Holy Scriptures… i.e. the “basic principals of the world.”  This is not to say that the whole system is 100% corrupt and ungodly.  However, our Lord Himself has lovingly and sternly warned us, in both 1 Corinthians 5, and Galatians 5, that, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”

 

In Psalm 127:1, God assures us that, “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.”  What would we want in a new church?  If it were up to us, we would just say, give us a good old-fashioned heaping helping of God’s Word, verse by verse, which cuts to the quick and makes no excuses… with an offensive gospel of repentance, faith and obedience; and death to the flesh and sin which so easily entangle; and an extra serving of fire and brimstone, please -- tempered with grace, glorious grace; mercy; and the hope of the promise of eternal life; sanctification; holiness; and separation from the world.  As relatively new believers in Jesus Christ, we want -- and need -- God’s Word to cut us deeply, and reveal hidden sin.  We want to be reminded about how wicked we are in our flesh, how perfect Jesus is, how desperately we need Him, and how we can rely fully upon His righteousness.

 

As hungry new Christians aching for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ in Glory, and searching for a Bible-teaching church -- we neither desire Starbucks or Barnes & Noble, nor Dale Carnegie or Tony Robbins; we need to be challenged to strive to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ.   We need to be in a church full of devoted, passionate followers of Jesus Christ, who are striving to be obedient to the Word of God, and who will hold one another accountable to His Word -- not a church full of worldly people looking for a comfortable place to be inspired on Sunday mornings… because that’s exactly what our flesh would prefer.  The same Apostle who wrote, in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23, “…I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some,’ also writes in Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  Likewise James, the brother of Jesus, strongly admonished the church, saying, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”  The whole of the Canon of Scripture, for that matter, clearly delineates that the church body, in and of itself, is to be utterly unlike the world, and set apart from its basic principles.

 

Charismatic Corruption

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Shortly after your arrival at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, Pastor, you proclaimed that which would seem to have been considered a “prophetic” word that there was a “spirit of adultery” within the church that needed to be vigorously opposed and cast out.   After nearly three years at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, our fear is that you may have been more correct in your understanding than you knew.  We are now convinced and convicted that this spirit of “adultery” at [SmallTown] AG is not necessarily only of the marital sort (between man and wife) but also between God and His Church.  There is clearly a deceiving spirit who has slithered in among the body of believers at [SmallTown] AG, and who has drawn numbers into spiritual adultery.  These have left their First Love for the god of the gospels of health and wealth, positive confession, physical manifestations, supernatural experience and extra-biblical revelation.

 

When we first began attending [SmallTown] Assembly of God at the very beginning of our walk with Jesus, we began attending the “Adult Bible Study” Sunday school class, which was filled with loving, enthusiastic Christians who, for the most part, had been walking with the Lord for years and years.  They showered us with love and encouragement and we fell in love with our classmates.  We immediately began learning a lot about the Bible, and growing in our faith as we prayed with our classmates, and heard and shared many testimonies about the mighty -- and amazingly personal -- hand of the Lord upon our lives.

 

While it clearly wasn’t a “new believers” class designed to teach the basic foundations of the faith, it is a true blessing that we were there, not only for the faith-building and inspiring testimonies, but also for the opportunity to learn of teachers and resources that influenced the elders of the [SmallTown] AG fellowship.  Occasionally, names of mighty televangelists would be dropped here and there, and their ministries would be praised.  More and more often, updates on their latest teachings and prophetic pronouncements would be scattered amidst our Bible studies, and a number of those present in the classroom would express their praises and applause.

 

As baby Christians hungry for truth, we began to look up some of these names on the Internet and see for ourselves what these teachers had to offer, as they caused such obvious enthusiasm among those honored in the church.  We were deeply disturbed at what we learned about teachers such as Benny Hinn, Reinhard Bonnke and Kenneth Copeland -- and a great number of other charismatic leaders whose philosophies concur in many respects as they commingle Christianity with extra-biblical metaphysical ideologies.  Because we had trusted our teacher and the elders in our class at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, however, we tended to write off the gravely troubling stories we found on the Internet as the devil’s desperate attempt to defame these great servants of God who were obviously doing something right… since they all seemed to have multi-million-dollar ministries and claimed the authority to prophesy, and command the manifestation of supernatural signs and wonders.  Besides, who were we, as mere babes in Christ, to be so brazen as to argue with someone who so boldly claimed the name, power and anointing of Jesus Christ?

 

We began to look for books authored by these “great men and women of the faith,” but found that, in nearly every case, once we got them into our hands, we simply did not have a sense of peace in making the purchase, so we put them back on the shelf.  We recall a frustrating week-long search of local bookstores for Benny Hinn’s Good Morning Holy Spirit, and the overwhelming relief, followed by the equally overwhelming discomfort we experienced when we finally tracked down a copy at Borders.  Throughout the months, we began to notice that these teachers’ names were popping up in conversations throughout the halls, in the sanctuary and in fellowship with our brothers and sisters from [SmallTown] Assembly of God.  We heard word of busloads of our fellow church members gathering at [SmallTown] AG and other AG churches to travel together to preaching and healing crusades led by these teachers, and afterward, we heard rave reviews about the awesome outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit and the physical manifestations of His presence at these gatherings.

 

But we were continually driven back to the Internet, and to authors and radio ministries who contend for the faith, to learn that which others have said about these teachers and their experiences at their crusades.  In doing so, we have become more and more concerned with what we have been learning over the past two years, as we came face to face with documented quotations and especially, audio and video clips from these “faith” ministries, which were nothing short of horrifying.  We are now fully convinced that these teachers, as well as a good number of others within their sphere of fellowship and ministry, have clearly demonstrated that they -- at best, preach a very different gospel than “the faith once delivered to the saints” -- and at the very worst, blaspheme and disgrace the very name and nature of the Holy God that they profess to represent.  And we simply cannot get past the warning by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 1:8-9, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed.”

 

In varying degrees, they all, in one way or another, cater to the basest desires of the flesh – the love of wealth, comfort, physical health, personal power, fame, and a wide array of physical manifestations of spiritual things.  The major players are known by such names as Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Jesse Duplantis, Frederick Price, Creflo Dollar, Rod Parsley, John Avanzini, Kim Clement, Reinhard Bonnke, John Hagee, Marilyn Hickey, T.D. Jakes, Rod Parsley, Oral and Richard Roberts, and R.W. Schambach, just to name a few, and to a certain extent, even Joyce Meyer and Juanita Bynum -- whose hearts may (either presently or at one time) have been inclined toward God, but who have rejected the true gospel for another Gospel, and who now actually liken themselves to “little gods” with the same creative authority as God, and have now become multi-millionaires as they market this fleshly gospel of self-gratification and present-day glorification of the believer, “naming and claiming” the promise of 2 Corinthians 9:6 “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”

 

But when we read verses 7-15, which follow, we are given a completely different picture (or at least it would seem that we should), that we are to give freely and joyfully to those in need, and in turn, we will reap all the necessities of life and service to God, and experience an increase in the fruits of righteousness:  “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written:  ‘He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.’ Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

 

While these verses are indeed in reference to a gift to help another church that was in need, if we “name and claim” these promises in order to justify giving money in order to get much more money (one of the basic tenets of the prosperity gospel), we are choosing to directly ignore the warning raised in Galatians 6:7-8, where we are told, “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.  For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”  Furthermore, to one degree or another, these teachers typically make a mockery of the loving yet reverently fearful Father-child relationship of simple trust we are to nurture with Almighty God, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and the meekness He displayed in His obedience and submission to the Father -- and turn the Christian faith into a bizarre, occultic three-ring circus where the glorious Holy Spirit of God has been reduced to a breathtaking source of satisfying entertainment for spiritual thrill seekers.  Again, in a number of instances, but not in all, and in varying degrees, this “spirit” manifests himself in disorderly, bizarre, unholy and oft times disgusting displays which would leave any number of unbelievers (and believers, for that matter) convinced that the followers of Christ have utterly lost their sanity.  Those who love and adore Jesus Christ can do little more than gaze in complete shock and disbelief, and cry over what is being done in the Name of our Lord.

 

The concept of the Holy Scriptures as God’s final revelation of truth to His Church has been trodden upon shamelessly by these “evangelists” and “prophets”; dreams, visions, physical manifestations and bodily experiences of all sorts are now freely being received, accepted, and celebrated as glorious works of our Holy God – with curses and condemnations being shamelessly hurled upon any so-called “heretic hunters” who may dare to question the validity of said wonders or the “servants of God” who perform them.

 

It would seem that among most of these charismatic teachers, all of God’s passionate and stern Old and New Testament warnings of false teachers, false prophets, and counterfeit signs and wonders which were to come at the hand of Satan in these last days, have been cast aside as rubbish.  The professing Church of Jesus Christ is bombarded by these charismatic apostates, and is voraciously devouring these revelations of fresh “visions of Heaven,” transmitted spiritual communications, and ministerial “anointings” being imparted -- either one to another, or, in the case of the necromancer Benny Hinn, through visiting the gravesites of deceased ministers, where he credits the very bones of Aimee Semple McPherson and Kathryn Kuhlman as the source of his “anointing.”  We have witnessed on videotape examples of this “anointing” and they are, unequivocally, not of God.  Satan has clearly and unabashedly plunged his blasphemous, prideful, murderous hands deeply into the “ministry” of Benny Hinn, who has proven himself to be a false teacher -- and a false prophet -- to the umpteenth degree. 

 

Yet, Pastor, in one of your recent sermons, we were surprised to hear you refer to Benny Hinn -- not to warn us of his abominable teachings, but to assure us that, as ‘regular believers,’ it was implied, while we are all called to evangelize, we shouldn’t feel we have to “be the next Benny Hinn,” with respect to 2 Timothy 4:5, where Timothy is implored to “Do the work of an evangelist.”  Seeing that Benny Hinn has clearly shown by his fruits to be a servant of Satan, it would seem more fitting that our attention would more profitably have been alerted to the previous passages, in verses 1-4, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

 

Getting back to the point, this jolly band of millionaires gladly shrug off their own (and one another’s) false and failed prophecies, and promote promises of earthly prosperity and restoration of health to all who can work up enough faith to receive it.  They even claim to have performed resurrections from the dead, and prophesy visions of impending grand-scale mass “resurrections” from rows of caskets placed in front of televisions tuned in to TBN programming.  I’m no Biblical scholar, but this latter prediction would clearly seem to debase and undermine the perfection, purpose, grandiosity, wonder and incomparable hope of the Glorious Appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the first resurrection of the elect into our glorified bodies -- which shall be like His Glorious Body, finally, and for eternity, perfectly healed -- yes -- by His stripes.

 

We read in Jeremiah 5:26-31, For wicked men are found among our people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.  Like a basket full of birds, their houses are full of treachery; therefore they have become great and rich, they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.  Shall we not punish them for these things?  Says the LORD, and shall we not avenge myself on a nation such as this?" An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:  the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; and our people love to have it so.  But what will you do when the end comes?

 

While the church body, including that at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, is often called to repent of obvious abominable sins with familiar names such as adultery, fornication, drunkenness, pornography, idolatry, and stealing from God by withholding tithes, there seems to be a deafening silence with respect to the church’s need to call the Holy Spirit to search within ourselves and finger sins that, to the casual churchgoing observer, may appear completely innocent and acceptable throughout many Christian circles.   New believers are told not to believe any teaching that cannot be substantiated by Scripture, when we don’t know everything in Scripture.  We are taught that we are to use discernment when listening to Bible teachers, but not all believers have developed discernment…

 

In fact, as we mentioned before, we are fully convinced by the Scriptures that a great number of those who profess to be born again really are not… those such as we who have come out of heretical denominations may have a mental ascent that Jesus is Lord, but we may not have been brought to Godly repentance and faith that leads to salvation; and if we have not, we are still ruled by the desires of our flesh, and nature would easily substantiate the fact that the unregenerate “professing” Christian, along with spiritually weak and new believers who have not pursued discernment, would tend to follow after teachers who expound doctrines that cater to our fleshly desires for earthly prosperity, bodily comfort and convenience, and physical manifestations as proof of the existence of the supernatural – those things that provide a more sensually exciting and satisfying experience than those we experienced within our previous dead religious affiliations.

 

The Church of Jesus Christ is in desperate need of bold, Godly shepherds who will preach repentance [and for that matter, explain the meaning of “repentance”], not only from the obvious big, bad, ugly sins that are given specific names in the Bible, but from our bondage to viewing and reading -- and subsequently accepting, obeying and supporting the heretical teachings of such highly influential, charismatic, false teachers.

 

Let us consider the “ringmaster” of this charismatic circus, Paul Crouch, owner of Trinity Broadcasting Network, who is an enthusiastic cheerleader for a great number of these teachers. In order to best illustrate his level of integrity, or lack thereof, here are some quotes we have seen and heard with our own eyes and ears, as he responds to “contenders for the faith” who challenge the doctrines espoused by these “word of faith” teachers:  “… I think they're damned and on their way to hell and I don't think there's any redemption for them... the heresy hunters that want to find a little mote of illegal doctrine in some Christian's eye and pluck that little mote out of their eye when they've got the whole forest in their own lives and in their own eyes.  I say to hell with you! Oh hallelujah. Get out of God's way, quit blocking God's bridges or God's gonna shoot you if I don't!  I refuse to argue any longer with any of you out there. Don't even call me. If you want to argue doctrine, if you want to straighten out somebody over here, if you want to criticize Ken Copeland for his preaching on faith, or Dad Hagin.  Get out of my life!  I don't even want to talk to you or hear you.  I don't want to see your ugly face! Get out of our face in Jesus' name."  …and… "We’ve gotten so caught up in theology and debating and discussing theology and nit picking on this, and the heretic hunters have smokescreened the whole thing."… and, finally… "Let Him [God] sort out all this doctrinal doo-doo, I don’t care about it!" 

 

Frankly, from what we have read, heard and seen in books, on the radio, Internet, and on videotape, we’ve become convinced that this is the general consensus of a great number of these teachers.  Through these false teachers and prophets, the scriptural command for doctrinal soundness has been replaced with the command that we continually exercise our spiritual authority by naming and claiming all the riches that are “due us” as children of the Living God… with many promoting the abominable teaching that monetary poverty is a sign of God’s curse on a believer’s life!   But never fear -- each one, it seems, just happens to hold the cure to such a curse as poverty, in that by investing all you can into their respective ministries, you will become wealthy beyond your imagination, if you truly believe… oh, and if you raise one single question about them or their ministries, they are quick to threaten… “Touch not mine anointed!”  Sadly, Pastor, this is the exact gospel you preached in your recent November 21 service, when you said you believed that poverty is a curse from God, and was caused by laziness -- and implied that if we did not hitch our cars to the train heading toward the “vision” of the church, we were going against the sovereign will of God and should “enjoy our poverty!”

 

In the May 30, 2004, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, which was freely distributed at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, we read and enjoyed an interview with Pastor David [Paul] Yonggi Cho, called “The Work of the Holy Spirit.”   Our great concern, however, is that after looking further into the teachings of Pastor Cho, we have learned that he has also espoused the following teachings in his book, The Fourth Dimension.  "If Buddhists and Yoga practitioners can accomplish their objectives through fourth dimensional powers, then Christians should be able to accomplish much more by using the same means." …and…"You create the presence of Jesus with your mouth ... He is bound by your lips and by your words ... Remember that Christ is depending upon you and your spoken word to release His presence." …and…"Through visualization and dreaming you can incubate your future and hatch the results." … and… "We should always try to visualize the end result as we pray. In that way, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can incubate that which we want God to do for us.  If you have not visualized clearly in your heart exactly what you hope for, it cannot become a reality to you... visualize success." … and… "In that way, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can incubate that which we want God to do for us...." "God used this process of visualizing the situation to help Abraham.... By that visualization through the associated thought Abraham... could incubate his [future] children and dispel the doubts from his heart.... The main thing is that we should know the importance of visualization."  And to think we were under the impression from the Scriptures that what God requires is that we trust and obey His Word… “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." (Romans 4:3)

 
Through these charismatic ministries, Christians are now taught that faith itself has become a creative force that empowers believers to change reality, alter circumstances and cast down principalities of evil, through the dynamism of our spoken words.  Earthly prosperity and health are being preached as normative -- expected and commanded for those who are heirs and citizens of the Kingdom of God.  Born again believers are now “little gods” who possess creative authority over everything right this moment, because the full blessing of the Kingdom of God is here and now for those who are born again.

 

Believers in Jesus Christ are now called to rebuke illness, and command Satan… and seek after signs and wonders, all in the name of the power of faith.  The inclusion of the submissive phrase, “…but not my will, but thine be done,” which was even spoken by Jesus Christ, is scarcely heard, nor implied.  And those who don’t receive the healing or blessing they have requested are more or less made to feel like their faith is simply not strong enough – rather than accepting that God hears and answers all prayers of His children… but sometimes His answer is “Wait” and sometimes, “No.” The Scriptures, in stark contrast, instruct believers to resist Satan and he will flee from us… God encourages us to draw near to Him, to pray and ask Him for healing and spiritual transformation, in accordance with His Word and His will -- and for all of our needs for that matter -- humbly submitting our will to the knowledge that if we must suffer, suffering for His Name’s sake is always a blessing, whether it be a brief manifestation of His loving discipline, or a loving trial to encourage us draw nearer to Him and glorify His name, as He bears our burdens and carries us through our challenging times.

 

Consider how blasphemous this “name and claim your healing” philosophy is in contrast with the true teaching of Jesus Christ.  Imagine the prideful claim of a human being to have the authority to rebuke an illness that Jesus Christ Himself, who has authority over all things in the heavens and on the earth, has allowed in his or her physical body.  Clearly, only a “little god” could have authority surpassing that of Jesus Christ.  Before our very eyes, charismatic Christianity is blatantly being transformed into a cult of “positive thinking and confession” which is alarmingly mystical in nature, and promotes metaphysical beliefs and practices that are more suitably common among the pagan, new age religions of the occult. 

 

While, up until recently, we never specifically heard preaching from the pulpit at [SmallTown] AG condoning (nor warning against) any of these specific teachers, there has always been a “deafening silence” on the subject.  Quite to the contrary, Pastor, upon your arrival at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, you made it very clear that you were, in essence, not responsible for, nor would you comment on, the teachings coming out of ministries in other churches, but only that coming forth from the pulpit at [SmallTown] Assembly of God.  As such, there seems to have been a “don’t ask, don’t tell” sort of philosophy firmly set into place, which at the time we first heard it, seemed honorable.  However, as we have become familiar how the Word of God deals with false teachers, we know that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” philosophy was not that which was practiced by the Apostle Paul (witness his calling out of Hymenaeus, Philetus, Demas, and Alexander -- and even the Scriptural account of his public rebuke of the Apostle Peter for his false doctrine in Chapter 2 of Galatians!).  He fervently admonished those who taught false doctrine, and warned those who fell victim to false teachings -- because he cared passionately for their souls.

 

In 2 Peter 2:1-10, the Apostle passionately warns the Churches, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that  righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.”

 

When we consider that when God inflicted his judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah He sent down fire from Heaven to burn their flesh, and while their bodies were burning He further pummeled their burning bodies with flaming rocks of brimstone, we have to believe that God takes very seriously the infraction of false teaching by those who profess to speak in His Name.  As baby Christians in these days of great deception, we need a Pastor who will vigorously oppose false teachers and their teachings, lest we find ourselves participating in their iniquities and receiving of their plagues, as is foreshadowed in Revelation 18:4.  But now we are faced with a dilemma, because as we mentioned before, the name of Benny Hinn, who is clearly a false teacher and a false prophet -- was, in two successive services one Sunday morning this past September, mentioned from the pulpit as an example of that which we would guess the church might consider a “Super-Evangelist”.  You may -- or may not -- be aware that in the past, this Benny Hinn has said, among numerous false teachings and failed “prophecies,” the following: “I have news for you. When you were born again the Word was made flesh in you and you became flesh of His flesh, bone of His bone. Don't tell me you have Jesus. You ARE everything He was and everything He is and ever shall be. And the new man doesn't look back. It has no past. It doesn't look ahead. It's got no future. It says I AM as He is. That's what it says. As He is, so are we in this world. Jesus said "Go in My Name, go in My stead." Don't say I have. Say I AM, I AM, I AM, I AM, I AM. “  -- And -- "Yes, Lord, I'll do it.  I place a curse on every man and every woman that will stretch his hand against this anointing.  I curse that man who dares to speak a word against this ministry.  But any man and any woman that raises his or her hand in blessing towards this ministry, I bless that man. I bless that home! I bless that family... Under this anointing, the words I speak cannot fall to the ground.  Under this anointing, everything I say, happens.

 

"Benny Hinn has also “prophesied,” of the Trinity Broadcasting Network, "The Lord just said to me these words - I'm hearing myself say them for the first time - TBN will not be only a Christian network.  It will be an extension of heaven to the earth.  An extension - it will be like a tube from heaven that the earth can look and say, ‘I'm looking at heaven, I'm partaking of heaven. I'm getting connected to heaven through this TV tube.’  If I can say it, it will be heaven's signal to the earth. It will be as though heaven is transmitting and earth is receiving through that set.  So if you want to go to heaven, you want to see heaven, you want to taste heaven, turn on that channel, 'cause you will.”  Let us thank God that we are not aspiring to be the “next Benny Hinn.”  

Yes, there were countless miraculous signs and wonders in the times of the Apostles, when the acts of the New Testament Scriptures were being played out for the establishment of the Church, and the confirmation of the Canon of Scripture… and yes, all things are possible for God and we are to seek after His miracles in our lives in the here and now, as an affirmation of His Word of Truth.  But these charlatans have replaced the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a false gospel of signs and wonders, prosperity and healing, false prophecies, and retaliatory threats and cursings for those who follow in the commendable footsteps of the faithful Bereans.  The true Gospel of Salvation, and the Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, is being discarded, defamed, mocked, blasphemed and trampled underfoot.  We have the Bible as God’s witness to Himself, and we surely know that God is capable of wondrous signs and miracles both now and forever, as He has gone to great lengths to thoroughly document His infinite abilities and affirm His true servants and His Living Word through miraculous signs.  Yet the Bible teaches that it is the Gospel – the very Word of God - which is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. 

 

In 2 Timothy 3:1-9 we are warned by the Apostle Paul of just such teachers who will emerge among the Church of Jesus Christ.  This modern day “Rat Pack” unquestionably fits the bill… “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith.  But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes's and Jambres's folly was also.”

 

[Specific Name of a Church in the Same Denomination] “Outpouring”

 

Also of great concern are [SmallTown] Assembly of God’s leadership apparent turning a blind eye and mute lips to counterfeit “revivals” and “outpourings,” most commonly associated with, and originating at, the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church.  There is no doubt that you are familiar with these “revivals” as even unbelievers are well aware of their blasphemous follies.   Such “revivals” are breaking out around the nation, and Christians and nonbelievers alike are falling victim to the delusion as spiritual impartations are being passed from one charismatic evangelist to another, igniting one congregation after the next with the power of the “anointing,” which is being manifest by such physical expressions as uncontrollable shaking, jerking or seizures; failed and unscriptural prophecies; manic laughter; menacing screams and moaning; barking and howling; unrestrained spiritual “drunkenness,” staggering about and falling; ridiculous fits of what can best be described as spastic solo jitterbugging; and large masses of people being “slain in the spirit” – dropping to the floor in response to a loud verbal exclamation or the swipe of the evangelist’s hand.

 

One of the truly most alarming aspects of these manifestations is that we have come to know that such have been openly displayed, testified of, and promoted as a holy spiritual “revival” at the Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida.  We’ve heard a number of passing comments within the halls of [SmallTown] Assembly of God, all of which have articulated great excitement and interest in what “God” has been doing down at the “the Brownsville Revival.”   We have viewed video footage of some earlier instances of these “revival” services, and have seen things that can be described as truly abhorrent.  While nothing about this “revival” has ever been spoken of from the pulpit at [SmallTown] AG, a big red flag went up when we found a casual update on this nearly decade-long manifestation of spiritual outpouring in the June 27, 2004, issue of the Pentecostal Evangel, which, as we mentioned before, is freely distributed in the halls of [SmallTown] AG.  The fact that the magazine is published by the Assemblies of God organization, and is unquestionably distributed by the leadership of the church fellowship, surely lead us to the conclusion that the “[Specific Name of a Church in the Same Denomination] Outpouring” must be an officially sanctioned “revival” and obviously, accepted as a work of God by the Assemblies of God denomination.

 

How does that affect us directly?

 

Closer to home, we have noted at [SmallTown] Assembly of God that there has been an intensified focus on prayer and petition for “revival” and a great “outpouring” of the Holy Spirit, especially on Sunday evenings.  For several months, for example, we had been encouraged nearly every Sunday morning to come back Sunday evening because, we were told, the  “Holy Spirit is really moving in the Sunday evening services.”  Our first reaction was, “WOW, what is He doing?”  However, we are now comforted as we realized that the “wow” was immediately followed by, “Wait, what exactly is it, that is restraining Him from ‘moving’ in the Sunday morning services?” The most recent Sunday evening service we attended was a few months ago, and was characterized by prayer and songs which seemed to be focused on sincere verbal pleadings and outward displays of piety, with an intended outcome to be that the Holy Spirit would “come down and bring revival” in the service.  This was followed by that which we guess would be considered several “prophetic utterances,” to which you, Pastor, immediately responded with further prayers for the Holy Spirit to “come down” and bring revival. 

 

Whatever spirit it may be that had been entering into fellowship with participants of these “revivals” we have seen on videotape, causing believers, non-believers, and pastoral leaders alike to act like absolute imbeciles in the name of Jesus, it was most definitely not the Holy Spirit of the Glorified Christ.  [SmallTown] AG has been praying and sincerely pleading to God for revival and a great “outpouring” of the Holy Spirit.  If the [Specific Name of a Church in the Same Denomination] -type of revival, obviously clearly sanctioned by the Assemblies of God organization, is anything like that which [SmallTown] AG is going to experience, we don’t want to be within ten miles of it.

 

As such, we are once again brought back to the Scriptures… we have been convinced that the Holy Spirit was already “poured out” from Heaven onto mankind at Pentecost, but that infilling of the Holy Spirit within born again believers in Jesus Christ wells up from within…as we seek after His face in all holiness, and live obedient lives in His ordained service.  In John 7:37-44, we are told, “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”  But Jesus has now indeed been glorified, and, being given to all who believe, His Spirit has been poured out upon all flesh.  Should we be calling for any spirit to pour out from outside of us, when the Holy Spirit, among born again believers, seems to clearly be poured out “from within”?

 

”Despise Not Prophesyings”

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While we understand that there are situations in which our Living God may give someone an “extra-biblical” (yet in accordance with the Scriptures) word of encouragement or exhortation, or a plea for repentance, to be delivered to fellow believers in the Church, it would seem that, in order to comply with the command that we “test the spirits, to see if they are of God,” we must insist that any prophecies be judged within the parameters of a supernatural understanding, application or fulfillment of Scripture in the present time -- in accordance with the parameters set forth in Scripture.  We are commanded by Scripture, in no uncertain terms, to test all words of wisdom, revelation, knowledge, etc. by the Scriptures, lest we unknowingly follow the utterance of a deceiving spirit.

We realize we are instructed in 1 Thessalonians 5:20 to “Despise not prophesyings.” But in the following two verses, we are further instructed to, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.”  Our understanding, from the Holy Scriptures, is that prophecy is the speaking forth of the Word of God.  As such, in accordance with the Scriptures, we simply must pose the question, “Is the Bible God’s complete and inerrant revelation of Truth to mankind… or isn’t it?”  If it is, then is it not correct that any “prophetic” revelation, proclamation or exhortation placed within the heart of someone by the Holy Spirit for the edification of the Church, must necessarily conform to the parameters of a profound understanding of the revealed and canonized Word of God, in accordance to the message of the Holy Scriptures?  When a present-day “prophecy” is followed by “says the Lord,” does this not imply that this is “The Word of God”?  If so, then truly, the Bible is NOT God’s complete revelation of Truth to His Church. 

Flippant and unchallenged acceptance of such utterances would seem to be treading upon very dangerous territory, and has made us incredibly uneasy, especially when the congregation responds to such a proclamation as the recent “prophecy” which announced, “I am opening the heavens, come and receive your healing… Says the Lord,” without questioning it in any way whatsoever, with “Yes, Lord, yes, Lord, Thank you Father, Amen!”  And dozens run up to the altar to receive healings.  Pastor, again, we do not claim to be Biblical scholars, but the unquestioned acceptance of these sorts of utterances grieves us deeply -- especially when we consider such warnings as Jeremiah 14:14-16:  "The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds. Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them--yet they keep saying, `There will be no sword or famine in this land'--by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end!  The people also to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them--neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters--for I will pour out their own wickedness on them."

 

Tongues As the Evidence of Holy Spirit Infilling

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The Assemblies of God denomination requires that THE (with a “capital THE”) initial sign of the baptism, or infilling of the Holy Spirit for spiritual power and evangelism, is “speaking in other tongues, as the Spirit gives utterance.” In fact, it is an “AG Foundational Truth” that "All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Ghost and fire, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian Church. With it comes the enduement of power for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry.  The baptism of believers in the Holy Ghost is witnessed by the initial physical sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit of God gives them utterance." 

 

Pastor, we fully understand that the practice of speaking in tongues is a foundational doctrine held near and dear to those who have been born and raised in the Pentecostal tradition, and our intention in this letter is not to argue for, or against, this doctrine, which has caused little more than confusion and discomfort throughout our short walk with the Lord.  In the past, we had invited friends and family to attend services at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, and they have witnessed the freestyle phenomenon of corporate worship involving singing and praying in tongues in a way that directly disobeys the commands for orderly gatherings found in Paul’s first letter to the unruly church at Corinth.

 

Again, all we wish to do at this point is appeal to you humbly that, as born-again believers in Jesus Christ who do not speak in tongues, and whose unsaved friends and family have been taken aback by the public and frequent speaking of tongues at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, you may want to reconsider the Scriptures that gave very specific directives to the Corinthian Church that if tongues were spoken in a public gathering, they were to be limited to a number of two or three in one service, and there was to be an interpretation, for, as we read in 1 Corinthians 14:23, “…if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad?”  We assure you, they do indeed… especially when the invitation for all who have the gift of tongues to lift their voices in unison is extended by the head Pastor, who is also speaking in uninterpreted tongues over the public address system.  Again, we understand that your traditions and personal experience may conflict with this appeal, but with respect to the recent drive to bring people into the church, the grand-scale worshipping in tongues is deeply disturbing for someone walking into the doors of a church for the first time in years, and has played a big role in causing those we have invited to church never to return.

 

From a more personal standpoint, again, as those who do not speak in tongues, we wish we could properly express to you how very painful and discouraging it has been for us in the past, as enthusiastic new believers, to struggle with “no tongues” in a church that so often stresses the necessity of the baptism manifesting itself in tongues as the receipt of the gift of power to serve God, available to all believers.

 

While we understand that our personal experience is exactly that -- personal -- may we just express to you in the most simple way we can, how heartbreaking it has been to hear altar calls directed specifically to “those who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, as evidenced by speaking in other tongues,” to step out of their seats, lay hands upon and pray for others with desperate needs, and invitations specifically for “those whom God has given a special prayer language” to offer up prayers or songs of worship at any given time.   There we stood, formerly in a spirit of worship to our God, with sunken hearts and deflated spirits, with the lousy, stinking, useless prayer language of “American English,” which would seem to be instantly disqualified by the specifications laid forth by the pastoral invitation.

 

Please consider that we are likely not the only members of [SmallTown] Assembly of God brought up in a non-Christian home, with and a background of “works-based religion” wherein God tolerates you when you’re good and hates you when you are bad.  May we express tell you that the repeated implication -- because we do not speak in tongues -- that we are more or less useless in intercessory prayer and forwarding the Kingdom of God, has more than once crushed us into deep sadness and confusion.

 

Does English qualify as a language by which we can effectively lift up prayers of any affect to God our Father, in worship or intercession?  The implication is that, no, English does not qualify.   Speaking as one with a deeply damaged soul, I, Paula, can’t explain how inferior, worthless and discouraged this has made me feel so many times in the past, and how it has made me consider how my Heavenly Father must really despise me, that He has not given me everything I need in order to be useful and effective in following His command to preach the gospel to a lost and dying world… There I stand, apparently disqualified from approaching the altar at times of desperate need by our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  I have spent so many hours of prayer begging our Heavenly Father to have mercy upon me and reveal the sins that were causing Him to decree against equipping my passionate heart with the Holy Spirit’s power for service.

 

In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul made a backward implication when he wrote, “All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they?”  But the implication at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, and the AG denomination as a whole, is that all believers should earnestly seek after a spiritual baptism manifested by speaking in tongues, as a necessary evidence of the Holy Spirit’s preparation for the service of God.

 

In Conclusion…

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Pastor, we were received as the newest members at [SmallTown] Assembly of God prior to the beginning of your tenure as the overseer of the church.  As new believers, we have learned through God’s Word that as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to seek the Lord and His truth constantly.   It is our understanding from Scripture that we are not to sit back and rest as truths are revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, through prayer and study of God’s Word, nor unquestionably trust everything any given pastor teaches.

 

As disciples, we are expected not only to be hearers and followers of the Word, but also, challengers of that which we hear, and contenders for the faith once delivered to the saints through the Holy Scriptures.  We are clearly warned in the Bible that as the return of our Lord approaches with increasing velocity, deceptions will clearly abound and, that in order to protect our souls from the influence of deception, we must hunger and thirst after the pure milk and meat of the Word of God as the source of all truth and doctrine.

 

We are so thankful to God for what we have learned, how we have grown, and for all the loving, wonderful people we have gotten to know during our stay at [SmallTown] Assembly of God.  We are also thankful that Jesus has led us down paths toward ministers outside of [SmallTown] AG as well, who have not refrained from naming and warning disciples of these false gospels and teachers.  While it would be a very sad thing if we were to divide as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ (we know it is the Lord’s will that we remain in harmony with one another in Love), we are trusting that He is leading us into a different type of church fellowship… one that is truly a better fit all around, based upon our personal needs, our specific spiritual circumstances, and of course, all of the issues we have raised in this letter. 

 

As I explained to [your wife] the other day, we pray that you will receive this letter as an outpouring of our hearts, and just an honest explanation of why we are leaving.  This is not a personal attack on your ministry; most of the seeds of our concerns were scattered before you even arrived at [SmallTown] Assembly of God, and a great deal of our belief differences seem to be items that are related specifically to the Assemblies of God denomination, and Pentecostal/charismatic churches in general, so we certainly can’t expect the church to conform to our needs just to make us more comfortable.  We believe Jesus has done, and can surely continue to do great things at [SmallTown] Assembly of God under your leadership – and anywhere, for that matter, if the Word of God is truly honored above all.  We pray that, if anything, perhaps the personal concerns we have shared with you herewith may help you to minister to those who will come under your pastoral guidance, and help you to consider specific needs that you may not be aware of among the flock you are tending for the Lord Jesus.

 

With our heartfelt love in Jesus, our prayers, and our gratitude to you both,