Walking in the steps of the prophets, patriarchs and Messiah.

As I reflect on a much-anticipated study tour of Israel, I am conscious more than ever that this is God’s land.

Partially thwarted by security alerts in both the north and the south, we nevertheless experienced the miracle of modern Israel, in the context of its connection to an ancient and glorious past, on a tour run by Shoresh (Hebrew for ‘root’), part of the work of the Church’s Ministry among the Jewish people (CMJ), which has been established in this region since the 1840s.

In the Footsteps of the Israelites

Our journey followed a biblical route, via the wilderness through which the Israelites wandered for 40 years after escaping from slavery in Egypt, when the sea opened up to make a way where there was no other way.

We marvelled at how, some 3,500 years ago, that vast multitude survived in these arid conditions, with water scarce and vegetation hardly visible. No wonder they needed manna from heaven, and water from the rock. It was designed to teach them to trust in the Lord – for “man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4).

Even today Bedouin shepherds watch over their sheep in this desert, leading from the front, not behind. It is an extremely dangerous environment for sheep – especially at night, with steep ravines, rock faces and sink-holes waiting to catch them off guard, not to mention wolves and other predators.

So they need to stay close to the shepherd in order to hear his voice above all others, and so avoid falling into traps and being taken captive by deceitful hirelings.

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”, Jesus taught his disciples (John 10:27).

We marvelled at how, some 3,500 years ago, the vast multitude of Israelites survived in these arid conditions, with water scarce and vegetation hardly visible. 

God Our Refuge in the Wilderness

The Wilderness of Zin. See Photo Credits.We travelled through the vast and magnificent Wilderness of Zin, stretching as far as the eye can see. Surely God is in this place. Indeed, he is our only sure refuge in the great wilderness of sin through which we travel, in an increasingly wicked world that has turned its back on the living God.

At the Dead Sea, we were reminded of the ultimate fate of those who pursue unrighteousness and licentiousness – the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are no more, destroyed by fire and brimstone.

It’s fun floating on the water there, at 1,200ft below sea level - the lowest point on earth - as salt also has a positive role in lifting you up to a higher place. We are called to be salt of the earth in raising the standards of the communities and institutions in which we live and move.

As we ascended the hills of Galilee, our excellent guide explained how sheep cut the grass as they graze while goats pull it out by the roots. I thought of the separation of the sheep and goats at the end of the age (Matt 25:31-46). The sheep feed on fresh pasture as they closely follow the Shepherd while the goats, thinking only of their present needs, cut themselves off from the roots of their faith by considering Israel forsaken by God.

Jesus is the Messiah!

At Caesarea Philippi, we saw why Jesus asked the question, “Who do men say that I am?” For there are remains of temples to idols, along with a huge cave in an overhanging cliff said at the time to have been the gate to Hades (Hell). So Simon Peter made his great confession: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16). And Jesus added that on this confession of faith he would build his Church (body of believers), and that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it.

God is our only sure refuge in the great wilderness of sin through which we travel. 

On the shores of Lake Galilee, we stood on the beach where the risen Christ cooked breakfast for his disciples, who had toiled all night for a catch of fish, to no avail. He told them to cast their net on the other side of the boat, and they landed 153 fish. And we learn that, in Jewish tradition, the numerical value of this figure adds up to the statement, “I am God.”

Jesus asked Peter, restored and forgiven of his earlier denial: “Do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15). Could it be that he was referring to the fish (i.e. his business) rather than his fellow disciples? Are we prepared to forsake all else in order to follow the Lord’s leading?

Threats from Without and Within

Weapons recovered from near a tunnel opening in southern Gaza. See Photo Credits.But disturbing news followed in our wake. We heard of Hamas terrorists killed in the bombing of a tunnel into Israel from Gaza in the south, and of a suicide bombing in a Druze village across the border in Syria, naturally also affecting the Druze¹ community within Israel.

This caused a long delay at a checkpoint coming out of Palestinian territory and meant missing part of the tour schedule, including the area where Paul had his dramatic encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus.

Just 70 years since being recognised as a re-born state by the United Nations, Israel has now developed into a powerful, high-tech democracy with the world’s second-strongest currency, after Jews returned from every corner of the globe in fulfilment of ancient prophecies.

But it remains threatened both from without and from within – in the latter case largely through lack of trust in the God of Israel. The Bible says, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Ps 20:7).

This was soon to become a personal challenge, but before I explain, let me say that Jewish people are beginning to discover the truth about their Messiah (known as Yeshua in Hebrew). A Jews for Jesus survey has found that an astonishing 20% of Jewish Millennials, when asked who they considered Jesus to be, replied that he was “the Son of God”.²

Messiah Will Return

One day soon he is coming back. The Bible says he will stand upon the Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem (Acts 1:11, Zech 14:4) and all Israel will recognise him as their Saviour (Zech 12:10; Rom 11:26).

As I stood on the Mt of Olives, with an awesome view of the city before me, I reflected on this amazing event – on how Jesus ascended from this very place and will return in like manner.

Jewish people are beginning to discover the truth about their Messiah. 

But I also thought of how much it cost him, how he sweated blood in the Garden of Gethsemane below, with its ancient olive trees symbolic of the Messiah, who was whipped for our transgressions (sticks are used to beat the fruit off at harvest) and crushed for our iniquities, as olives are crushed for their oil (Isa 53:4-6).

We know the Bible is true, and that Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies of Messiah. So too will the much-prophesied great spiritual ingathering of God’s chosen people take place in the coming days. God has not forsaken them, but loves them with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3).

God Has Not Finished!

And just as he has not finished with Israel, he is apparently not yet finished with our tour, which was unexpectedly extended when I was prevented from boarding my El Al flight home – because of not having a visa in my South African passport. The British Government is now fining airlines allowing ‘foreigners’ to enter the UK without a visa (the fact that I have lived in England for nearly 50 years doesn’t seem to count!).

I won’t dwell on the details of the stress involved in having to re-organise our lives over this past week. Suffice to say that we two (my wife Linda and I) do not put our ultimate trust in flying chariots or horses, but in the Lord our God, who clearly has a purpose for our extended stay.

Our first extra night was something of an emergency stop, because it was close to the British Embassy, in the luxurious surroundings of Tel Aviv’s Herods Hotel, where we were given a champagne reception on being handed the keys to our $300-a-night room. This was somewhat ironic in view of our pilgrimage as Herod, who also enjoyed the high life, was no friend of the Messiah!

Thankfully we have since temporarily settled in nearby Jaffa, known as Joppa in biblical times and famous for Jonah and the whale, and for Peter’s vision in the house of Simon the Tanner, which opened the way for the Gospel being shared with the Gentiles. How eternally grateful we are for that – and so here we are sharing with the Jewish people the precious gift they passed on to us so long ago. May they be truly blessed with Yeshua’s perfect peace!

Notes

1 An Arab-Muslim sect loyal to Israel.

2 Is it time for a new Jesus movement among Jewish millennials? Gateway News, 8 November 2017. 

The same remembrance events happen each year, but how Britain has changed.

Remembrance Day this year, the 11^th day of 11^th month, coincided with the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele.

The battle, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, was from July to November 1917, for control of the ridges south and east of the Belgian city of Ypres in West Flanders, as part of a strategy decided by the Allies at conferences in November 1916 and May 1917. The objective was accomplished on 10 November.

The War to End All Wars

It was a controversial battle from the start. British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, was against the offensive, as was General Foch the Chief of Staff of the French Army. In 1938 Lloyd George wrote in his memoirs that Passchendaele was one of the greatest disasters of the war and that no soldier of any intelligence would by then defend the senseless campaign.

Even the number of casualties was unknown, with wildly differing estimates, so that an individual was lost among the multitude counted. Sometimes the numbers were exaggerated to lessen the impact of loss for the costly victory. Somewhere in the region of a quarter of a million casualties from the Allies and the same from the Germans seems to be an acceptable approximation.

Australian wounded at the Battle of Passchendaele. See Photo Credits.Many of those missing soldiers have still not been identified, each one spurred on through national loyalty, obedience to superiors and with the promise that this would be the “war to end wars”.

Personal Points of Contact

Last weekend the nation paused for two minutes to remember, as best we could, the sacrifice of these and so many other lives in succeeding wars. The number of wartime casualties has amassed through the years following the armistice of 1918. Over 60 million people were killed in the Second World War alone, about 3% of the entire 1940 world population.

Not many of us have memories of family and friends who fell in the First World War but quite a few of us are left who have had direct involvement with those who fought the Second World War and succeeding wars.

My RAF service brought me into contact with some who survived the conflict. I also recall the sombre tones of my father whose best friend lost his life as a pilot in the Battle of Britain.

One of my close colleagues told me of the lasting impact that was made on his father who was among the first to enter the death camp of Belsen after the Allied victory. The shock of finding the emaciated, all-but-dead Jewish survivors and the horrendous job of clearing up the carnage left by the Nazis scarred him for the rest of his life.

Somewhere in the region of a quarter of a million casualties on each side were suffered at the Battle of Passchendaele.

Honouring Survivors

I have personally tried to honour those who survived the conflict when I could. For example, I travelled to an air show at Duxford last year with the main aim of shaking the hand of two 617 Dambuster Squadron Air Crew. One was Johnny Johnson, the last British Dambuster. He was the bomb-aimer who released the bouncing bomb on the Sorpe Dam after the ten passes needed to get altitude and speed correct for the drop.

The other was Ken Trent, a later pilot in 617 Squadron, who took part in the horrific 1,000 bomber raids over Germany towards the end of the war, covering his fear on every sortie with the motto “just do it”.

I sometimes wonder about my continued interest in these world conflicts – have I not yet lost my boyhood glamorisation of these heroes? Or do I keep studying just to try to understand why war? Perhaps in truth it is a bit of both.

Faithfully Remembering

Year after year we, as a nation, have faithfully obeyed the call to remember, ensuring our poppies are visible so that we can be seen to be taking part. Yet, this year, when watching the nation’s dignitaries on the television broadcasts of the Festival of Remembrance and Remembrance Day Service in London, I felt something different, something deeper stirring within me. I felt a real unease.

Why? Was it because I thought we who are left are paying tribute to the fallen but in a way that has become unreal? Was it because I sensed an unease from God himself, even though we heard the great hymn sung by those of Christian faith and others of no real faith, “O God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come”?

I am being honest here, saying something that may be against the grain for many so soon after the remembrance services. I am truly troubled, even with all my personal involvement and interest in the way our nation has been helped by God.

Year after year we, as a nation, have faithfully obeyed the call to remember.

God Our Help and Hope

I have had personal involvement with the Bible College in Wales where God called for prayer through the Second World War, where every battle was followed and victories were first proclaimed in prayer.

Then, afterwards, the prayer vigil was continued for the resettling of the Jews in their homeland, and victory was proclaimed in prayer even as the UN voted. God surely brought us through these wars and gave their homeland back to the surviving Jews, after great loss to the spiritual enemy through the horrors of the Holocaust by the hand of Adolf Hitler.

Perhaps, knowing this, I was hoping for more recognition of what God has done by those leading the remembrance services. I think though, my unease is because we at Prophecy Today have come to the view that God is displeased with Britain today, so much that he will allow us to go through a time of difficulty. This after all he has previously done for us.

Defending Righteousness

Those who fought the battles on behalf of our nation did so under the principle that they were defending a way of life. That way of life that was fought for is not now, in increasing ways, followed or cherished in this nation.

Once, with a righteousness to proclaim and defend, we were in a much better relationship with God. I think it was the knowledge of this that gave me my unease, mixed in with our remembrance this year of those who fell in the wars.

True remembrance takes account of purpose, or we drift into unreality. With continued respect for those who fell so that we might live, I would ask that we continue to seek God for how he wants us to remember what has been accomplished. Remembrance, in biblical understanding, is not just calling to mind an event, but acting on that prompt in a way that is worthy of the sacrifice.

Biblical remembrance is not just calling to mind an event, but acting on that prompt in a way that is worthy of the sacrifice. 

Sadness and Regret

On reflection, the sadness that I felt at this year's remembrance services was twofold. First it was for the fallen in all the recent wars, tinged with the regret that much was avoidable.

Secondly, it was for the leaders of the nations in our present day. God’s judgments on nations fall when the leaders (shepherds) fail to do their job, and that is what is happening in our day.
The world is still volatile and we are vulnerable as a nation, more so because we are not living under the sure protection of God: we have changed our way of life to accommodate much that is sinful and evil in his eyes.

Whether we have reached a fulfilment of Isaiah 1:14-15 I cannot say with certainty, but this is something worthy of prayer:

…your appointed festivals…have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening.
Your hands are full of blood!

Israel got into this serious position with God and so can Britain.

Society & Politics

• Premature babies’ survival rate improving: At the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, the survival rate for babies born at 24 weeks (the current limit for abortion) is now 80%, and up to 60-70% for babies born at 23 weeks, compared to 25% in 2006. Read more here. A new poll shows that the majority of Brits do not support further liberalisation of the abortion law.
  
• Christian teacher suspended for ‘misgendering’ a pupil: A teacher from Oxfordshire has been suspended for saying ‘well done girls’, when one of the two girls in question identifies as a boy. Read more here. Meanwhile, a Christian couple from Canada have been told they cannot adopt because of their religious beliefs on gender and sexuality.

World Scene

• Over half of religious hate crimes in the US against Jews: New statistics from 2016 show that anti-Semitic attacks make up the majority of religion-based hate crimes in the USA. Read more here.
  
• Disturbing levels of anti-Semitism in France: In a helpful report, journalist and author Giulio Meotti surveys the Islamisation of France and the impacts this is having on its Jewish population. Read more here.
  
• Ex-Google executive launches church of AI: The new ‘religion’ will not only worship technological progress and artificial intelligence (AI), but will look to use AI to create a godhead. Read more here.
  
• Muslim posing as Christian teacher attacks school director: The Ugandan Christian school is being subjected to a strategic campaign by local Muslims. The director sustained considerable facial injuries after being hit with a blunt object. Read more here.
  
• The richest 1% own half the world’s wealth: The new study also finds that this vast inequality has only increased since the financial crisis of 2008.

Israel & Middle East

• Russia declares Iranian presence in Syria legitimate: Russia’s Foreign Minister made the remark on Tuesday, effectively rejecting Israeli concerns about Iran’s proxies in the region. Netanyahu has pledged a zero-tolerance attitude to this ongoing threat. Read more here, and watch a useful update from Israeli Christian commentator Amir Tsarfati here. Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian crown prince is warming to the idea of co-operating with Israel to counter the threat of Hezbollah.
• Increase of rock-throwing attacks in Israel: There has been a notable rise in the number of incidents of Palestinian Authority residents throwing rocks at Israeli vehicles and citizens, in what is attempted – and sometimes successful - murder. Read more here and here.
• Iran turns down Israeli aid after earthquake: Watch Netanyahu’s offer here. It was ‘immediately’ rejected. Meanwhile, the quake has been a wake-up call for Israel, which is overdue a major quake, with warnings being issued that the country is not properly prepared. Read more here.

How the charismatic movement took on the characteristics of its social surroundings.

Last week we looked at the social and cultural characteristics of pop culture as it developed through the 20^th Century. This week we move on to see how this shaped the Church.

Youth-Dominated

Many of the founding fathers of the charismatic movement in Britain were men of deep spirituality, personal commitment to the Lord Jesus and with a passion to share Christ with others. Many of them, such as Denis Clark, Arthur Wallis, David Lillie, Campbell McAlpine, Michael Harper and Tom Smail - to mention just a few - were steeped in the Word of God and utterly committed to the promotion of New Testament Christianity. This, indeed, was their major objective, namely the restoration of authentic New Testament principles to the life of the Church.

There were many other men from conservative evangelical or Brethren backgrounds whose study of the Word of God led them to believe that the 20^th Century Church had strayed woefully from the New Testament pattern. They longed to see the restoration of the five-fold ministries, of the recognition of baptism in the Holy Spirit and of the exercise of spiritual gifts within the Church. Their witness within their denominational institutions often stirred heated opposition and many were ejected from their fellowships.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s a few house church groups began to be formed, although this was never the intention of those who longed to see the restoration of New Testament teaching and practice in the Church. In the early days there were men in leadership of these new fellowships who were of sound biblical scholarship and considerable spiritual maturity. But, as so often happens in a new movement, it is not the thinkers who prevail but those who are the most convincing 'charismatic' personalities, popular speakers and natural leaders.

Young men rapidly took the initiative, both in forming new fellowships and in taking leadership. This was fully in line with the prevailing mood in Western society. These young men owed no allegiance to traditional Church or denominational institutions. They were untrained for leadership and most of them had no theological education. They rapidly developed new styles of worship using guitars, which were ideal for home groups, and new styles of meetings and leadership.

As so often happens in a new movement, it is not the thinkers who prevail, but those who are the most convincing ‘charismatic’ personalities. 

Anti-Tradition

The new house fellowships soon attracted those who were discontented with their traditional denominational churches. This, of course, is inevitable with any new movement. When David was outlawed by King Saul and took refuge in the hills, it is recorded that, “All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered round him, and he became their leader” (1 Sam 22:2).

Something like this happened in the early days of the house church movement. Many who were dissatisfied with the lifelessness of the denominational churches were attracted by the informality and freshness of the house church fellowships. The early days saw many groups split away from a parent group and form new fellowships. These splits often occurred on the grounds of teaching or practice, but in reality new young leaders were arising to challenge an established leader and form their own fellowships.

The emphasis was upon all things new in response to the new experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This was a new day. God was doing a new thing. Old established practices in the denominational churches were considered stumbling-blocks to what God wanted to do among his people. The Holy Spirit was sweeping away the dead wood in the Church and there were many calls for people to come out of the mainline churches because God had finished with the denominations.

These calls did not come from mature Bible teachers such as Denis Clark and Campbell McAlpine, who never formed new fellowships and whose ministries were trans-denominational. They came from the young men who eagerly seized the opportunities for leadership presented by new teaching and the impatience of many within the traditional churches to move faster than their pastors deemed to be wise.

In Brighton, for example, when Terry Virgo founded the Clarendon Fellowship he was joined by a large proportion of the congregation from St Luke's, Brighton and Hangelton Baptist as well as individual members from churches in the surrounding area.

Young leaders eagerly seized opportunities for leadership presented by new teaching and the impatience of many within traditional churches. 

Similar things happened in many other parts of the country, where house fellowships sprang up and rapidly attracted members of the mainline churches. These congregants were longing to experience new life in the Spirit and felt constricted by the traditions which bound them in the churches they had attended for many years.

It was a time of splits, of fission and fusion, as house fellowships multiplied, outgrew their drawing-room bases and began worshipping in scout huts and school halls. There were many cries of sheep-stealing and counter-charges of being blocks to the Holy Spirit. There were many hurts, but it is now a long time ago and most wounds have healed. The new fellowships are an established part of the Church scene. Their leaders are prominent in the charismatic movement alongside those in the mainline churches.

Most of the new fellowships planted in the 1970s or early 1980s have now aligned themselves with one or other of half a dozen streams such as Pioneer, New Frontiers, New Covenant or Ichthus, each of which is now an independent sect or a mini-denomination.

At the time these new fellowships were being formed, a significant renewal movement was taking place within the mainline churches themselves. Many ordained ministers quite independently experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit and began to lead their congregations into renewal in the Holy Spirit. Many suffered considerably in doing so while others saw quite spectacular results. Colin Urquhart in Luton, Trevor Dearing in Hainault, David Watson in York, David Pawson in Guildford and many others each attracted large congregations and saw the renewing of the spiritual life in the churches they led and the exercise of spiritual gifts among the people.

It is questionable in hindsight whether it was ever right to fragment the Church by the formation of numerous new fellowships, or whether it was God's intention to renew the existing structures. The new eager young leaders reflected the spirit of the age, both in their impatience to get on with the new thing, and with their anti-traditionalism which regarded all things of the past as only being fit for ridicule and rejection.

Certainly the Church was in need of a radical shake-up and spiritual renewal, but was it really necessary to tear apart the Body of Christ so wantonly and create such division? Would a little more love and patience have enabled renewal and a new unity to run right across the denominations? Was this God's intention for his Church?

It is questionable in hindsight whether it was ever right to fragment the Church by the formation of numerous new fellowships, or whether it was God's intention to renew the existing structures. 

We shall never know the answers to these questions, but it is a fact that the decade of the 1970s which saw the greatest fragmentation of the Church was also the decade of the greatest social unrest, the height of the social revolution.

A spirit of rebellion was running right through the nation with numerous strikes in industry and a vast increase in marriage breakdown and sexual promiscuity, with all the accompanying evidence of the rejection of tradition and the eager pursuit of new social and moral values.

It is perhaps a strange quirk that the young rebel leaders who caused great division in the 1970s and who became the leading 'apostles' of the charismatic movement are now the very ones condemning as 'divisive' those who question the biblical validity of their teaching and practices.

Individualism

20^th Century evangelicalism has tended towards individualism due to its emphasis upon the personal nature of salvation. The seeds of individualism have been there since the Reformation, but 20^th Century Western culture has greatly encouraged this. By the time the charismatic movement was born, individualism in Western society was rampant and the new renewal movement embraced it wholeheartedly.

Unlike the corporate experience of the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, the renewal movement was entirely personal. Its emphasis was upon the personal relationship of each believer with the Father. This, of course, is perfectly biblical and in line with the promise of the Lord, but the Hebraic background to Jesus' teaching has been lost over the centuries and with it the understanding of the place of each believer within the corporate community the Body of Christ.

Charismatic renewal is highly 'me-centred'. Each individual is encouraged to discover their spiritual gifting. Indeed, the gifts are regarded as personal possessions rather than together making up the spiritual attributes of the community of believers.

This individualistic concept of the gifts has led to some erroneous teaching, highly dangerous for the health of the Church, such as the 'positive confession' or 'faith movement' which has emphasised physical and materialistic values such as health and wealth. Its proponents have taught that God wants all his people to prosper, to be healthy and wealthy and that through faith or 'positive confession' these things can be obtained.

This teaching is fully in line with the desires and ambitions of Western acquisitive materialistic society which no doubt accounts for its popularity among charismatics, despite it being the very opposite of the teaching of Jesus!

Much of the preoccupation of charismatics with the exercise of spiritual gifts has been me-centred: me and my health, my wealth, my family and my personal relationship with God. The exercise of spiritual gifts thereby tends to meet the personal needs within the fellowship. The servant nature of discipleship - saved to serve - tends to become lost.

Much of the charismatic renewal movement has been me-centred: me and my health, my wealth, my family and my personal relationship with God.

Charismatic worship has both reflected this me-centredness and helped to reinforce it. A very large number of worship songs and choruses use the first person singular rather than plural. One of the great benefits of the renewal movement has been to heighten each believer's awareness of the presence of God and thereby to heighten each individual's active participation in worship and deepen their spiritual apprehension of God. This is wholly good, but the danger of an overemphasis on individualism is a loss of the corporate and thereby a loss of the essential nature of the New Testament Church as the Body of Christ.

Personal Involvement

If you walk into a strange church, you can usually know instantly whether it is charismatic or traditional. If it is traditional, the congregation will fill up the back pews first; if it is charismatic they will fill up from the front. In the traditional church the congregation is passive, the people are there to be ministered to by choir, readers and preacher; in the charismatic church the people are there for active participation. They want to be fully involved in worship with the freedom to wave their arms, clap, dance and give physical expression to their emotions.

This DIY worship is very much in line with the spirit of pop culture. Amateur musicians, worship leaders and singers give a performance at the front which is enthusiastically supplemented by the active participation of the congregation.

In the new sects which arose out of the house church fellowships, the preachers and pastors were also untrained. Hardly any of them had any formal theological training in a theological college or university theology faculty. A few had been to a Bible school although many of the younger leaders had received some sort of training from schools set up within their own sects. These were non-academic and simply pass on the limited teaching of the leadership.

This represents one of the greatest dangers of the charismatic movement, where the emphasis has been increasingly on experience-centred or revelationary-centred leadership with increasingly less emphasis upon biblical scholarship.

One of the greatest dangers of the charismatic movement is its emphasis on experience-centred leadership over and above biblical scholarship.

As the charismatic movement has tended to become increasingly driven by the leaders of new sects in concert with a handful of leaders from the mainline churches, few of whom are men of outstanding scholarship, the gap between biblical truth and current charismatic practice has widened.

The anti-professionalism of pop culture has been present in the charismatic movement from the beginning although leaders have been quick to assert their own authority. The excesses of heavy shepherding, which scarred many people's lives during the 1980s, have largely disappeared, although the authoritarianism of sectarian leadership has left its mark. Individual believers are encouraged to be fully involved in worship and the exercise of spiritual gifts, with the exception of the gift of prophecy, which is permitted as long as it is supportive of the leadership.

Next week: The final three characteristics of pop culture are compared to the Church: sensuousness, lawlessness and power.

First published 1995. Revised and serialised November 2017. You can find previous instalments in this series here.

Searing criticism of ‘pansy’ Christians who fail to challenge godless culture.

Much of Western society has been bewitched by a political elite seeking to change the order of God’s creation, with the result that the Church has lamely retreated from the public square with a message that could otherwise challenge it.

In a passionate call for Christians to engage with today’s world (Gospel Culture, published by Wilberforce Publications), Joseph Boot packs a powerful punch. Rarely do you find an academic/theologian calling a spade a spade, but it was a most refreshing experience as I became thoroughly absorbed in this scholarly work despite the author’s frequent use of words with which I am unfamiliar!

He castigates many of today’s Christians as being part of a “weak, ineffectual, intellectually impotent, compromised and complacent church culture of inward Christian pansies” by the way in which they have allowed the world to dictate how the Church should be run.

And he concludes that much of the Western Church has failed in its mission to bring the Word of God to every aspect of life. For the most part, he argues, we have subscribed to a heretical ‘Two Kingdom’ theology separating the sacred from the secular as a convenient excuse for not engaging with an apostate Western culture.

We retreat into our holy huddles and dare not raise the issue of politics in our pulpits, with the result that congregations are rarely, if ever, encouraged to weigh topical debates in the light of Scripture.

The Bible Speaks to the World

But this is God’s world, and the Bible speaks of all life – there is no big issue of our day on which it doesn’t have something pertinent to say. On the issue of abortion, for example, Boot’s experience has clearly mirrored my own with the way some church leaders don’t seem to see this as a topic on which the Bible speaks, and on which they ought to be giving guidance to their congregations.

In a passionate call for Christians to engage with today’s world, academic/theologian Joseph Boot packs a powerful punch.

When I was asked to lead intercessions at a church of which I was once a member, I included this issue in my prayers as it was being discussed in Parliament. But after being told off by the vicar for doing so on the basis that there were politicians in the church who might have been offended, my wife and I promptly left the church – for good!

Joseph Boot says we are not only called to win converts to Christ; we are called to be salt and light in a dark world and thus affect the culture around us, as our forebears did in bringing an end to slavery, child labour, illiteracy, poor health and much more.

But more recently we have allowed the secularism and humanism of the political and media elite to influence how we think, so that we are now effectively conforming to the world rather than being “transformed by the renewal of our minds” as St Paul urged the church at Rome (Rom 12:2).

Recovering the Full-Orbed Gospel

Boot argues that today’s political agenda is a resurgence of ancient witchcraft with its manipulative and brainwashing techniques.¹ And many of our churches have been influenced by it – a pretty damning and alarming thought. Disengaging from the public square was a “fatal flaw” which led to endless divisions among Christians “frantically drafting peace treaties with non-Christian thought”.

I guess this is why I’ve struggled for 40 years to convince Christian leaders in this country of the need for a media bringing a biblical worldview to mainstream debate. And I concur with the author’s statement that “for us to deny that we have a task on the earth to apply his salvation victory and lordship, his beauty and truth to all aspects of life and thought is to renounce Christ.” (author’s emphasis).

Boot argues we are not only called to win converts to Christ; we are called to be salt and light in a dark world and thus affect the culture around us. 

Just because culture is being relentlessly driven in the opposite direction to Gospel teaching, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t challenge it. It leaves the public at large not only alienated from God (and we are called through the Gospel to reconcile man with God) but now seeking to alienate God’s world from its Maker - “to separate what God joins and join what God separates”.

We desperately need a recovery of a truly scriptural view of life – “a full-orbed gospel” that takes God at his word and understands and applies the implications of Christ’s resurrection to all of life.

Dr Boot’s sphere of influence straddles both the UK and Canada. As well as being founder of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity and senior pastor of Westminster Chapel, Toronto, he is director of the UK’s Wilberforce Academy and head of public theology for campaign group Christian Concern.

Gospel Culture (2017, 128pp) is available for £5 + P&P. Also available as an e-book.

Notes

1 Boot writes: “If we are to understand the radical changes in our society today as inspired by diabolic principalities and manifest in ideological strongholds that set themselves up against the knowledge of God (Ephesians 6.12; 2 Corinthians 10.4-6), then we must grasp the essential instrumentality of modern political life as engaged, wittingly or not, in witchcraft – employing a ‘secret’ (elitist) knowledge in an attempt to join opposites.”

He further explains: “Our current culture is thus bent on defacing the image of God by denying that man is man and woman is woman, by negating the God-given nature of marriage and by politically manipulating people to believe and act as though an illusion were true – that homosexuality is normative, gender is fluid and that androgyny is the human ideal.”

Did you notice that last week, 8 people were killed in a terror attack in New York? It seems like weeks ago now. How quickly it has left our screens, as the media has moved on to more incidents of shootings, political crises, exposes of corruption, etc. Never mind the natural disasters and impending famines, the incessant attacks on life, the family and freedom of speech. ‘It’s overwhelming’ soon becomes the heart’s cry.

The problem is that this is the ‘new normal’ – and we’re growing used to it. Atrocious attacks don’t stay in the papers for quite as long, because they’re too frequent. As soon as one scandal breaks, another eclipses it. We don’t have time to process the news, let alone react suitably.

In my local news this week, a gay man was sentenced for shaking his adopted daughter to death while his ‘husband’ was out of town. She was 18 months old. I was aghast watching this terrible story. And then I realised that I wanted to grieve and mourn for this poor little girl more than I actually was. I remembered Matthew 24:12: “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” Jesus’ own words warn that the relentless evil of this world will, unless we are careful, exact a heavy toll from our own hearts.

It can happen so subtly, so easily. We can grow cold out of self-defence – being so overwhelmed by what we see that we put up guards around our hearts, even sub-consciously. It can be out of fatigue – the bombardment simply numbs us. It can be out of escapism; deliberately hiding our heads in the sand for a moment’s respite.

However it happens, the outcome is still the same: next time such a story hits the news, we pray but don’t weep. The next time, we don’t even pray, but simply roll our eyes. Bit by bit, hearts can grow weary.

Chilled by a Cold Wind

Let’s take a closer look at Jesus’ words. “Because of the increase [pléthunó, meaning multiplication, filling to maximum capacity] in wickedness [anomia, meaning lawlessness, the total disregard for God’s word and the impact of this on the soul], the love [agapé, God-given moral love, first for Him and then for each other, manifested in obedience and sacrifice] of most will grow cold [psuchó, chilled, as if by a cold wind]”.

What a stark warning – but it is not inevitable. Contrast Matthew 24:12 with Ephesians 3:17-19, which shows our true calling: to be “rooted and established in love”, and to grow such that we might grasp the wonderful riches of the love of Christ, and “know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

I believe that it is possible for believers to be chilled in their love for God and others (especially in these days), and to be tempted to turn inwards to self-centred love, or to other worldly loves, instead. Indeed, by the time the Apostle John received Revelation, the church at Ephesus which had received those wonderful words above on love from Paul had ‘forsaken their first love’ (see Rev 2:1-7).

However, I also believe that it is possible for us – albeit against the odds – to grow in love, that we might truly ‘shine like stars’ (Phil 2:15).

Knowing Christ and Christ Crucified

There are many ways that this might be achieved - let me select two here. One is that recommended by Jesus in Matthew 24:13: “the one who stands firm [hupomenó, to bear up under the load, to stand one’s ground] to the end will be saved”. This perseverance requires diligence, courage and an intentional, ongoing decision to keep going, holding fast to the true faith.

The second is this: we fan the flames of God’s agapé love in our hearts by making sure we don’t forget the sinful state of our hearts and the price that the Lord Jesus paid to cleanse us. It was the Lord Himself who said that those who understand just how much they have been forgiven will love much (Luke 7:47, also 2 Pet 1:9).

Let us, then, keep our eyes fixed on the cross, while watching carefully and prayerfully how much we are being directed by the world's agenda rather than the Lord's agenda. Only then will we discover His focus and His heart for this changing and challenging world.

Author: Frances Rabbitts. With grateful thanks to David C Grabbe and Pastor Colin Smith.

What's changed in 100 years?

This week the Russian Revolution catches our attention. 100 years ago on the 7^th and 8^th November, what was called the October Revolution sealed the uprising that had been fermenting through the year of 1917.

Lenin, with a group of exiled revolutionaries, had arrived the previous April at the Finland Station in St Petersburg in what was called a ‘sealed train’, shepherded across Europe under close German supervision. The train is on display at this station to this day. This dramatic arrival raised popular support which increased through the following months, until the Russian revolution fully matured through popular uprising.

Lenin’s Bolsheviks organised the armed forces and the Red Guards who, commanded by the Military Revolutionary Committee, took control of government buildings on 7 November 1917. The Winter Palace, seat of Provincial Government, was captured the following day. The rule of the aristocracy was over; the rule of the people had begun, in what became an era of communism.

A demonstration in Petrograd, July 1917.Revolution in the Air

That was 100 years ago this week. Memory of this revolution is prompting comparisons with what could turn out to be a new revolutionary fervour developing in our day.

Today there is a new phenomenon: the power of communication through the established news media has now been broadened and intensified through the internet and social media. The new weapons of revolution are the smart phone and the tablet.

How would Lenin have made use of today’s media channels to cultivate support for the communist cause? He would undoubtedly have exploited them with relish.

The social discontent that gave rise to communism can rise again. This time the ferment of discontent can be brought to the boil and turned for particular ends powerfully and rapidly through the global community of the internet.

The ferment of discontent can be brought to the boil and turned for particular ends powerfully and rapidly through the internet.

The Power to Raise Up, Tear Down

The power of the media has long been well-known. Selective reporting on TV and in the papers has had the powerful effect of cultivating mind-sets and worldviews for many years. So have the arts in the film industry.

But in just a few years we have seen the power of the communication media rise to an astonishing level. It is now even capable of raising up new leaders of the nations (e.g. playing a powerful part in the elections of the USA, France and the UK).

The freedom of the Press is a recognised right to defend in modern-day democracies, and for good reason, but this freedom nevertheless brings with it the potential for exploitation. Journalists can easily exploit the power it carries, knowing that politicians, economists, city institutions, the monarchy and even the Church needs to be careful of how they are presented to the public.

The media has the power to raise up and tear down – individuals, organisations, even governments.

Trial by Media

Notice that whatever the media chooses to highlight brings about swift results. Furthermore, irrespective of the rights and wrongs of individuals there can be no doubt that ‘trial by media’ plays its part in shaping the consequences of issues brought to the attention of the watching public.

The Westminster sex scandal is a recent example. We can only guess at the scale of the media’s contribution to Michael Fallon’s resignation as Defence Minister or the tragic suicide of Carl Sargeant, the Welsh Government Minister, but surely the clues indicate that it was significant, either directly or indirectly.

Whatever the media chooses to highlight brings about swift results.

What the media exposes becomes the issue of the day and forces rapid response. The media selects what the general population treats as the issue of importance, from one day to the next. To further emphasise the relevance of this, even this week we have heard of the tax avoidance schemes that, despite not being illegal, have drawn into suspicion the Queen and Prince Charles, among the wealthier of society. Our attention to the sex scandal was redirected to this within days, as if there is a war on to expose and bring down all in the public eye, particularly those in positions of authority.

Welsh Minister Carl Sargeant, who recently committed suicide. See Photo Credits.The point is not in the rights and wrongs, but to illustrate the power of the media. The issue that led to the resignation of Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary, was sparked by a BBC reporter.

One might ask if some of these issues are better discussed behind the scenes than in public, according to biblical principles of one-to-one reconciliation rather than in the public view. But what we are witnessing is a new media-influenced form of democracy that seems to grow stronger each day.

Added to the traditional news media, increasingly powerful is the use of social media to send waves of reaction through the communities of our nations, so that even fake news (declared the 2017 ‘word of the year’ by the Collins Dictionary) can prompt reaction as if it were true. Be sure that this is understood by those who need to cultivate popular support and sway public opinion, so that behind the scenes we have the potential for popular uprising that could be sparked intentionally or by default at any time.

Revolutions Can Happen

Remembrance of the Russian Revolution prompts us to realise that revolutions can and do happen. Add to this the general discontent that is so characteristic of our modern day and we can almost feel the potential for social uprising. It could happen - with increasing likelihood as the days go by.

Another thing we learn from the Russian Revolution is that what seems like a great and cleansing move with hope for the future at the time, turns out to be a disappointment as the years go by. This too would be the inevitable result of any social revolution in our day, save for a revolution of new faith in the Lord. And dashed hope could, more quickly than in previous revolutions, cultivate a tremendous backlash of social discontent in the future. We are in a vulnerable position.

With all revolutions, what seems like a great and cleansing move with hope for the future at the time turns out to be a disappointment as the years go by.

Yet, as Christians, we realise there is a higher, more perfect plan being outworked, whatever this current period of history sweeps in through the swirling tides of struggle for power and survival.

God is Working His Purpose Out

Personally, I have a little anecdote which illustrates to me how the work of God proceeds quietly, yet powerfully, despite the world’s revolutions.

When Lenin arrived on his train in St Petersburg 100 years ago, among those who fled the country was a certain man who came to the UK. His forefather had, many years before, opened the Gardner porcelain factory in Moscow and succeeded in business, producing porcelain that was sold to such as the Tsar - on a par with Royal Doulton in the UK. He was, therefore, a ‘White Russian’ about to be persecuted by the ‘Reds’.

On arrival in the UK, this descendant of the founder of the porcelain factory married a young girl from Wales. They had three daughters, one of whom I met in 1964. We have recently celebrated our golden wedding anniversary. But for Lenin, my family life would have been quite different. Our four children, seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren would not have been born, along with all the history that surrounds our little corner of the world.

I say “but for Lenin”, but I would rather say “but for God”. We may be in a world that is ripe for new revolutions, but in small (yet big) ways we will find God at work. As a popular hymn goes, “God is working His purpose out as year succeeds to year”. Paul put it this way:

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 created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

The Russian Revolution was used by God to bring me my wife. He is preparing a Bride for his son, Jesus, despite all the rebellion and revolutions of this world. We who know him must be careful not to be swayed by popular uprisings as they are cultivated by the media of our day, but to fix our eyes on Jesus, discern what he is doing, largely hidden from the world but given to us through the gift of discernment.

But much of the West is silent as believers are brutally tortured.

Post-war pop culture and the Church.

We continue our serialisation of ‘Blessing the Church?’, previous instalments of which can now be found here. After last week’s outline of the dramatic social and cultural changes in the West that followed the end of World War II, Dr Clifford Hill now looks at key characteristics of these changes and the impact these had on the Church.

CHARACTERISTICS OF POP CULTURE

Youth-Dominated

Pop culture was essentially a youth culture which rejected the old, the outworn and the outdated. The emphasis was upon a search for new things and the discarding of the old. It was a culture from which, in the early days, the elderly felt shut out and devalued. Even in such things as clothing, the elderly felt disadvantaged as the consumer-driven market sought to satisfy the demands of the young.

The development of new technology in the brave new world emerging after the devastation of World War II reinforced the adulation of new things and led to the development of what was seen as 'the throwaway society'.

On the positive side, the period of reconstruction after the war needed the vitality and creativity of youth. It needed fresh energy, new ideas, unhindered by the failed policies of the past which had dragged the world into two devastating wars in the first half of the century. But the adoption of new ideas needed to be guided by firmly-rooted principles, if confusion and chaos were to be avoided.

Anti-Tradition

Any new movement contains an element of protest and rejection of the past. Pop culture was seeking to develop its own ideology and was therefore challenging traditional values. Inevitably the collected wisdom of the past was questioned as a whole new set of social mores applicable to the present day was sought.

Young people were quick to embrace new ideas and to say that the policies pursued by their fathers had only led the world into the horrors of war, culminating in the nuclear bomb devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The anti-nuclear campaigns of CND linked with the more positive campaigns of the peace movement which produced the 'flower people' and slogans such as 'Make love not war'.

The period of post-war reconstruction needed the vitality and creativity of youth, but this also needed to be guided by firmly-rooted principles if chaos was to be avoided.

On the negative side, it increased awareness of racial differences and stirred passions. The campaign for racial justice had both a negative and a positive side. Positively it affirmed the equality of all peoples regardless of race or colour while at the same time protesting against those traditions and institutions which debarred people on grounds of race, religion or ethnic origin.

The anti-traditionalism of pop culture led to a despising of traditional institutions and even, in extreme cases, to the rejection of professionalism and scholarship. An extreme example was the Cultural Revolution in Communist China which persecuted and degraded teachers, university lecturers and scholars, often parading them through the streets as an act of public humiliation.

In Britain there were not these extremes, but public attitudes towards the professions changed radically. Teachers were no longer held in high esteem, neither were the clergy or any of those who served the public.

Individualism

The worldwide liberation movement of the post-war era spilled over into pop culture, not only in politically-orientated protest movements but also in positive campaigns to alleviate suffering and to serve the world's poor and hungry.

The 'Freedom from Hunger' campaign of the 1960s, the Oxford Campaign for Famine Relief (which became Oxfam) and numerous others all reflected the growing concern of the new generation for freedom, equality and justice. These social values were part of the growing recognition of the worth of each individual and the sanctity of human life. In emphasising these values, pop culture reacted against the wanton sacrifice of life in two world wars. It was also a reaction against what was seen as the oppression the ruling classes exercised over the world's poor and powerless peoples.

This recognition of the worth of each individual had its down side. What began as the pursuit of justice rapidly became a demand for rights. It was rights, not privileges, that changed attitudes towards the Welfare State in Britain. Instead of enjoying the privilege of living in a society where the needs of each individual were cared for by the whole community, these benefits were soon taken for granted.

The younger generation knew nothing of the privations endured by former generations. Instead of thankfulness for the peace and security now enjoyed, the prevailing mood became a determination to obtain the maximum benefits available to each individual. Inner-city areas saw the rise of campaigns for community rights. 'Claimants Unions' sprang up in the 1970s to ensure that individuals were able to claim all their rights and entitlements from the State.

The anti-traditionalism of pop culture led to a despising of traditional values, social mores and institutions.

The campaigns for racial justice and justice for women soon produced minority group rights: feminist campaigns, the gay rights movement and the pro-abortion lobby with the campaign slogan 'A woman's right to choose'. These movements were fundamentally anti-social, in that they contributed towards the breakdown of traditional family life and the downgrading of marriage. They were driven by a destructive spirit in which the only thing that mattered was the philosophy of individualism, in which personal morality and personal relationships are largely determined by the rights, desires and demands of the individual.

The same determinants have played a creative role in the social values emerging from pop culture. They are essentially anti-social and dysfunctional rather than creative of a healthy society. Their end product is the dissolution of society. The underlying lesson is that ethical nihilism leads to social nihilism. Moral anarchy leads to social anarchy.

Personal Involvement

The post-war era of reconstruction that gave rise to pop culture was an age of activity. Pop culture reflected this with all the dynamism of youth. They wanted to get involved personally in the radical changes that were already beginning to move from theory to practical reality by the beginning of the 1960s. Pop culture encouraged young people to get involved in their community, to take to the streets and demonstrate, to take their protests to the town hall or to turn the student union debate into days of action for better grants and living conditions.

The negative anti-professionalism of pop culture also included a strong positive element of personal involvement in every kind of activity. It was the age of DIY. Do-it-yourself in home improvement resulted in an enormous industry of tools and provision for the amateur builder. DIY extended to every kind of activity, from making your own music to arranging your own house conveyancing. DIY in education gave rise to the Open University, while DIY in sport and entertainment resulted in a boom in a wide variety of sporting activity, from athletics and field sports to aerobics and keep fit, to climbing and hang-gliding.

Pop culture initiated what was essentially the day of the amateur. Personal involvement plus lots of help from commercial products enabled the amateur to produce results every bit as good as the professional.

Sensuousness

Pop culture rapidly swept away the old Victorian taboos on sex and the expression of emotions. It became a new age of freedom where the emphasis upon individual rights and personal involvement encouraged the exhibition rather than the suppression of the emotions. This was considered psychologically healthy.

The ‘Dr Spock’ generation of demand-fed babies and undisciplined children became the pop culture teenagers: the teeny-boppers who screamed wildly at their pop idols and lost themselves in waves of emotion at rock concerts and gigs. These activities paved the way for the drug-related rave parties of the 1990s.

Pop culture gave rise to a new age of sexual freedom aided by birth control and abortion. Sex education in schools followed the repeal of censorship in the entertainments industry, allowing explicit sexual scenes on TV, film and video, as well as in books and magazines.

As the moral mores of the nations fell apart, so the media's reporting of scandals, details of violence and explicit sex became more lurid, both stimulating and feeding the appetite for the sensuous. Inevitably, intimate media accounts of the lifestyles of pop stars encouraged young people to follow the activities of their idols and imitate their behaviour.

The lesson of post-war pop culture is that ethical nihilism leads to social nihilism. Moral anarchy leads to social anarchy.

Lawlessness

The radical change in the philosophy of education in the post-war era taught children not only to discover things for themselves, but also to question traditional values, leading to the questioning of authority, social norms and religious beliefs. The latter was aided and abetted by the popularisation of liberal theology through books such as Honest to God by John Robinson, the bishop who had defended the publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover, which broke new ground in explicitly sexual literature.

The old norms, moral precepts and social values, together with their foundational religious beliefs rooted in the Judeo-Christian faith, were rapidly crumbling. By the middle of the 1960s pop culture had become an unstoppable band-waggon rolling the nation into a social revolution, the end product of which only the exceptionally far-sighted could see.

The breakdown of moral absolutes left the field wide open for 'situation ethics' in which the rights and wrongs of every action for each individual would have to be sought within the prevailing situation and circumstances. This paved the way for increasing lawlessness, for the lowering of standards of professional conduct, and for radical changes in business ethics and the practices of corporate institutions. Thus the way was open for corruption in politics, industry and commerce leading inevitably to the increase of crime, drugs, family breakdown, child abuse, street violence and terrorism.

Pop culture was a child of revolt. It was born out of a spirit of rebellion, essentially a destructive rather than a creative spirit. Its anti-traditionalism was essentially the rejection of morality, of fundamental belief and of law. It was DIY in the rules of behaviour with a self-centred individualism that was essentially destructive of community. It was social anarchy and the inevitable result of anarchy is the destruction of society.

Power

The 20^th Century ushered in an age of powerlessness. Two world wars in the first half of the century swept millions of men and women from many nations into the horror of modern armed conflict. They had no option but to fight and even those who remained at home were mercilessly bombed in cities throughout Europe, powerless to defend themselves.

The post-war period of reconstruction saw thousands of inner-city communities destroyed as their homes were bulldozed and replaced by tower blocks. Others saw their homes destroyed to make way for motorways which they were powerless to resist.

As radical social changes were enforced by law, foundational social values began to crumble, moral principles were neglected, marriage breakdown increased, the stability of family life was undermined, crime rates soared and a general sense of powerlessness to withstand the onslaught of the forces of social change became widespread. The genie was out of the bottle and no-one had the power to put it back.

Pop culture was a child of revolt. It was born out of a spirit of rebellion, essentially a destructive rather than a creative spirit.

The economic boom years gave way to recession. Powerful commercial enterprises collapsed, bankruptcies increased, mortgage lenders foreclosed on the homes of defaulting house owners. The Englishman's castle was built on sand. People were powerless even to defend their homes.

The sense of powerlessness was increased by Europeanisation. Europe was swallowing up the little island which had fiercely maintained its freedom and independence against all invaders for a thousand years. Norman Tebbit summed it up when he said that the day would come when the 'Chancellor's budget speech would be faxed from Frankfurt'. The politicians, the Government, the Cabinet and the Prime Minister all began to share the sense of powerlessness to withstand the forces of change which were sweeping across the nation. Even the Queen had her 'annus horribilis', being powerless to defend her family from the adulterous and rebellious spirits of the age.

The Charismatic Movement

In the midst of these traumatic social changes and upheaval, a new phenomenon appeared within the Church: the charismatic movement. It did not arise in the immediate post-World War II period - in fact, it had no clear beginnings. There was no mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God as on the Day of Pentecost, no fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit as at the beginning of the Pentecostal movement at Azusa Street in 1906; there was no great revival, no clear move of God resulting in the conversion of multitudes of unbelievers.

Most charismatic leaders today trace the beginnings of the movement to the middle or late 1960s. But the first really recognisable signs of a movement did not occur until the early 1970s, when home-based fellowships or 'house churches' began to proliferate.

Whatever date we assign to the beginnings of the charismatic movement, it has to be acknowledged that pop culture was already a firmly established part of the social scene. The destructive effects of the spirit of rebellion could clearly be seen, biblical belief was under attack, traditional morality was in rapid decline, so too was church attendance. The Church, especially in inner-city areas, was in the full flight of retreat with a high closure rate of redundant church buildings, especially in areas of immigrant settlement.

It was against the background of spiritual atrophy and moribund institutionalism in the mainline churches that the charismatic movement emerged. It was born out of the womb of frustration with the status quo, rather than through a notable move of the Spirit of God.

A Genuine Move of God?

The charismatic movement came to birth at a time when the spirit of moral and social rebellion was triumphing in the battle with traditionalism in the secular world. This was the time when the most socially destructive Acts of Parliament were put on the Statute Book. It was a time when it seemed as though the whole nation was intent upon overturning past tradition and rejecting the social values and moral precepts of their forefathers. This was the spirit of the age in which the charismatic movement emerged and there is good evidence for the contention that many of the social characteristics of that period were birthed into it, the significance of which we are only now beginning to see.

We may go farther and ask the question, 'Was the charismatic movement a move of God? Was it actually initiated by the Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church?' It is not easy to give an unequivocal affirmative to that question due to its lack of a clear beginning and the fact that it was not rooted in the conviction of sin, repentance and revival.

The charismatic movement was born out of the womb of frustration with the status quo, rather than through a notable move of the Spirit of God.

There was not even a great wave of renewal sweeping through the Church or a 'holiness' movement characterised by self-denial, humility and self-sacrificial suffering with the major emphasis upon the cross. These are the characteristics of the present-day Church in China which has arisen out of the flames of persecution and martyrdom of the saints. In China there was no spectacular outpouring of the Spirit in any one place to mark the beginning of the period of great spiritual awakening now sweeping through that nation, but there were all the marks of authentic New Testament spirituality, including a willingness to die for the faith.

The charismatic movement, by contrast, had none of these marks and it is for this reason that we may fairly ask whether it was the creation of God or man. In fact, it bore many of the social characteristics of the Western nations in which it arose. It developed in an environment of easy affluence and it offered a form of spirituality which appealed strongly to the rising new middle classes seeking quick self-advancement and status in the new post-war social order.

Before offering an answer to the question of origins, we will look at the characteristics of the charismatic movement under the same headings as we used when looking at pop culture.

Next week: The charismatic movement as a child of pop culture.

First published in 1995, as part of chapter 2 of ‘Blessing the Church?’ (Eagle Publishing, pp10-39). Revised November 2017.