Page 110 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT

Trinity Broadcasting Network, a half-billion dollar of the 1960s; and the third wave has been occurring
corporation that beams Word-Faith teaching throughout since the 1980s among evangelicals.
the world. The Third Wave is characterized by the following:
In general it holds that healing is guaranteed to those (1) An acceptance of tongues speaking as legitimate; (2)
who have faith, that Jesus was rich and that He desires an openness to divine healing as something promised by
for His followers to be financially prosperous, that faith God; (3) a yearning for experiential worship that
is a creative force that can be used to shape one’s world, involves yielding to charismatic style contemporary
that when Adam fell he forfeited the nature of God and music; (4) a focus on charismatic style spiritual warfare,
took the nature of Satan and that salvation requires including the concept of territorial spirits that must be
removing Satan’s nature from mankind, that Jesus did identified and bound by prayer before evangelism can
not make the atonement for sin by His death and blood be successful; (5) an openness to the continued gift of
but by taking upon Himself the nature of Satan on the prophecy.
cross then going to hell and overcoming the devil there EXPLOSIVE GROWTH
and being born again and thus erasing Satan’s nature As we have noted, at the turn of the 20th century
from man, that Jesus is establishing a new race of little there were no Pentecostals. Even 50 years ago
Christs that are equal to Him and that can do what He Pentecostalism was a very minor part of Christendom,
did. but things are different now. The ten largest churches in
While the Word-Faith teachers hold certain things in the world are Charismatic. The Charismatic movement
common and while all of them hold to most of the is probably the fastest growing segment of Christianity.
aforementioned doctrines, they are highly individualistic It dominates the Christian media in the West and
and do not necessarily hold to every single one. permeates such influential organizations as the
Some of the proponents of the Word-Faith doctrine Christian Booksellers of America and the Christian
are Kenneth Hagin, Sr., Kenneth Hagin, Jr., Kenneth Broadcasting Association. Some of the largest mission
Copeland, Benny Hinn, David Yonggi Cho, Paul Crouch, groups are Charismatic, including Youth With A Mission,
John Avanzini, Robert Tilton, R.W. Shambach, Rod with its 21,000 workers. Statistician David Howard
Parsley, Fred Price, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Marilyn claims that 372 million Christians—one in every five—
Hickey, Charles Capps, Peter Popoff, Morris Cerullo, identifies with the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement
John Bevere, Markus Bishop, Juanita Bynum, Kim (Press Release, Indianapolis ‘90, Aug. 16, 1990). He
Clement, Paula White, and Rodney Howard-Browne. claims that Charismatics are growing by 54,000 per day,
At its heart is the doctrine that whatever a believer and that 80% of all conversions are Charismatic. While
claims by faith, he will have. The late Kenneth Hagin, these statistics are doubtful, there can be no doubt that
Sr., said, “Your confession of faith in God’s Word will it is a massive movement.
bring healing or whatever it is you need from God into THE ERROR OF THE PENTECOSTAL MOVEMENT
the present tense and make it a reality in your Though there are many sincere Pentecostal Christians
life!” (Hagin, The Word of Faith, Dec. 1992). who love the Lord, particularly among that extreme
THE THIRD WAVE minority of old-line Pentecostals who have not accepted
Prior to the 1970s, evangelicals looked upon the the Charismatic movement, we believe they are
Pentecostal-Charismatic movement as fanaticism and sincerely misled. The Pentecostal-Charismatic
worse. By the 1970s, this attitude had changed movements share several dangerous, unbiblical
dramatically. In March 1972, Christianity Today characteristics. The Bible says the Holy Spirit is the
observed: “A new era of the Spirit has begun. The SPIRIT OF TRUTH (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John
charismatic experience moves Christians far beyond 4:6), but the fruit of the Pentecostal-Charismatic
glossalalia [tongues-speaking]. ... An evangelical movement is not truth but doctrinal error. While not
renaissance is becoming visible along the Christian every Pentecostal or Charismatic holds every one of the
highway, from the frontiers of the sects to the high errors described in the following study, he holds many
places of the Roman Catholic communion. This appears of them.
to be one of the most strategic moments in the church’s 1. WE REJECT THE PENTECOSTAL-CHARISMATIC
history.” Many of the evangelicals that have adopted a MOVEMENT BECAUSE OF THE FALSE DOCTRINE OF
positive view of the Charismatic movement do not call AN END-TIME, LATTER RAIN MIRACLE REVIVAL.
themselves Charismatic. Fuller Seminary professor Peter One of the keynotes of the Pentecostal movement
Wagner coined the term “third wave” in the 1980s. He since its inception has been the doctrine that the Lord’s
said the first wave was Pentecostalism in the early coming will be preceded by a worldwide revival of signs
1900s; the second wave was the Charismatic movement and wonders. Acts 2:16-20 is used as a proof text. They

110 Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity