Well, good afternoon. My name is Nathan Busenitz and the title of our seminar this afternoon is A Word from the Lord? Evaluating the Modern Gift of Prophecy. That subtitle really defines our goal in this session. We want to look at prophecy in the contemporary Charismatic Movement and compare it to the Word of God.
Now as a side note, at the beginning, I want to note that much of the material that were covering this afternoon parallels what youll find in the Strange Fire book which youll be receiving tomorrow. And Im mentioning that at the outset so that if youre interested in doing further study on this important topic, you can do so by reading what Dr. MacArthur has published in that important resource.
Now before we begin this afternoon, its important for us to define several terms. And I realize that these terms have been defined and used throughout the keynote sessions so far. But I feel like its important from the beginning to define some key terms. One of those terms is Charismatic. The term Charismatic is very broad. It encompasses millions of people and thousands of denominations. In fact, according to the International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, there are more than twenty thousand distinct Charismatic and Pentecostal groups or denominations in the world. These groups are generally subdivided into three different categories or waves. The first wave began in 1901 in Topeka, Kansas, it really got started in 1905 or so here in Los Angeles and that would be classic Pentecostalism under the leadership of men like William Seymour and Charles Fox Parham.
The second wave is known as the Charismatic Renewal, began in the 1960s and it represents really the influence of Pentecostal theology in the mainline denominations. Actually started in Van Nuys, California, just a few miles from here.
And then the Third Wave began in the 1980s, really started under the leadership of two Fuller Seminary professors, C. Peter Wagner and John Wimber. Wimber, of course, associated with the Vineyard Fellowship and this is Pentecostal theology influencing evangelicalism and its called the Third Wave.
These three waves together represent the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movement and in our seminar today, well be using the term Charismatic I a broad sense to refer to all three of these waves, recognizing that its not possible to deal with all of the nuances and specifics in the hour or so that we have this afternoon.
Another important term that we need to discuss is the term Continuationist. The term Continuationist simply means that those who are continuationists believe that the gifts have continued, the miraculous and revelatory gifts of the New Testament have continued throughout the church age and are still operational today. Often the term, continuationist, is used to differentiate theological conservative Charismatics from those in the broader Charismatic Movement. And well-known continuationists would include Christian leaders like John Piper, Wayne Grudem, and Sam Storms, and I think its important at the outset to mention the fact that we have great appreciation and respect for much of what these men and their ministries represent.
I like how Bob Kauflin defines the term Continuationist. He says this, The term Charismatic has sometimes been associated with doctrinal error unsubstantiated claims of healing, financial impropriety, outlandish and unfulfilled predictions, an over-emphasis on the speech gifts and some regrettable hair styles. Then he says this, Thats why Ive started to identify myself more often as a continuationist rather than a Charismatic. So I think its helpful for us to note the distinction there between those two terms.
And then finally, we have the term cessationist. The term cessationist refers to those who believe that the miraculous and revelatory gifts passed away in church history shortly after the apostolic age ended. Cessationists assert that phenomena like the gifts of apostleship, prophecy, tongues and healing are no longer operational in the church today. Once the apostolic age passed, and the canon of Scripture was complete, the primary purpose for these gifts was fulfilled and they passed away.
Now with those sort of basic terms defined, we can then define the term prophecy. When we speak about prophecy or the gift of prophecy, or a word of prophecy, we are talking about the human declaration of divine revelation. In fact, continuationists author Sam Storms defines prophecy exactly that way as quote: The human report of divine revelation.
Now, just to be clear, we are not talking about preaching, rather we are specifically talking about the reception of new revelation from God which is then articulated by a human prophet. And I think in terms of that very rudimentary definition of prophecy, I think most cessationists would agree, biblical prophets like Moses and Isaiah, they received new revelation from God which they then reported to people both by speaking the truth, declaring it, and by writing it down. Charismatics today similarly claim that they receive revelation from God and that they are then able to articulate words of prophecy to others.
Another term, the word prophet. The word prophet itself comes from the Greek, prophetes which means to speak in the place of or to be a spokesman. So a prophet is by definition a spokesperson for God.
I think this is an important point. When someone claims to be exercising the gift of prophecy, or claims to have received a word from the Lord, they are in essence claiming to be a spokesperson for God.
This brings up an important thing for us to consider, the need to test prophets. Throughout history there have been many people who claimed to be prophets, who claimed to speak for God. But all Christians, whether Charismatic, Continuationist, or Cessationist would agree that at least some, if not all, of these individuals were false prophets.
Now just for the sake of time, Ill give you three quick examples. One example from the second century would be Montanus. Montanus claimed to speak for God. In fact, the Montanus Movement called itself the New Prophecy. He said that the world was about to end. He promoted extremely legalistic ethical standards on his followers. He claimed that God was going to establish the New Jerusalem not in Jerusalem, but in the town of Pepusa(?) in Phrygia(?). And needless to say his predictions of the imminent end of the world did not come true and he was declared a heretic by the early church.
Moving all the way up to the Reformation, Dr. Lawson yesterday talked about some of the radical Reformers who at times claimed to receive direct revelation from the Holy Spirit. One of those would be a man named Melchior(?) Hoffman(?) who claimed that the New Jerusalem was going to be established in Strasberg, Germany. And we have Yen(?) Mathis one of his sort of disciples. Mathis said the New Jerusalem would be established in Munster, Germany. At some point somebody is going to recognize that the New Jerusalem is going to be in Jerusalem, but in any case, he and his followers essentially took over the city of Munster, Jerusalem and were finally eradicated and declared to be false prophets. The predictions that they made did not come true.
And then another perhaps more well-known example in the nineteenth century would be Joseph Smith who, of course, claimed to receive direct revelation from God. In his case, it came in the form of some golden tablets which he allegedly translated and the result is the Book of Mormon. Smith, of course, is widely recognized, in fact in his own day was widely recognized as a con-artist. He was in imprisoned. In fact, he was killed while in prison by an angry mob who was offended by his doctrine of polygamy. And we would all regard Joseph Smith as a false prophet.
Now whats the point of these historical examples? Simply to demonstrate the truth that false prophets exist and that they represent a major threat to the church. Both the Old and New Testaments repeatedly warned believers about the danger of false prophets. And if time permitted, we could go through dozens of similar examples and dozens of passages in which Gods Word warns people to avoid anyone who claims to speak for God but in reality does not. So when a person claims to have received new revelation from God then, we might ask, What criteria can we use to discern whether or not they are really speaking for God? How can we recognize a false prophet? And I think that really is the key question that we have to ask even as we think about the modern Charismatic version of prophecy.
The Bible articulates three criteria for identifying a false prophet. And Tom Pennington hit on these quickly in his seminar just this morning. These three tests, Im just going to state them briefly and then well go through them in more detail. The first would be the test of doctrinal orthodoxy. Gods true prophets proclaim doctrines that are right and true. New Revelation is always consistent with previous revealed truth.
Second, moral integrity. Gods true prophets are characterized by personal holiness. Those who claim to speak for God must also live out that truth in their lives.
And then thirdly, predictive accuracy
predictive accuracy. Gods true prophets foretell future events or reveal hidden things with 100 percent accuracy.
Well go through these each in more detail.
