In light of the recent coverage in the media concerning the claims of gold teeth manifestations, Siam Bhayro casts a concerned eye on the portrayal and perception of Charismatic/Pentecostal Christianity.  

THE British ITV night-time news and current affairs programme Tonight
with Trevor McDonald featured an in-depth report by journalist Jonathan Maitland on the "gold-teeth" and "gold-dust" phenomena sweeping through the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches at present. The report itself is to be commended for its objectivity and fair-minded approach, as well as its knowledge of the context within which these phenomena are occurring—particularly the same circles which promoted the Toronto Phenomena.

The interview was of considerable interest, not least because it provided ample air-time for Gerald Coates to put across his view of current events. In view of our past articles on Mr Coates, it comes of no surprise that, rather than take advantage of the opportunity to preach the gospel of Christ, he launched himself into a flawed and rather embarrassing defence of the "gold teeth" phenomenon.

Mr Coates' opening comment was: "If there is just one case of this that's proven, then it's the scientist's holy grail."

The following is an unedited transcription of the interview between Mr Jonathan Maitland (JM:) and Mr Gerald Coates (GC:)

GC: I know of three separate people who are friends and acquaintances who have been back to their dentist and the dentist has said, "Well what is in your mouth is not what is in my records" so something quite unusual is going on here.

JM: In your view, how significant is this?

GC: Well God doesn't intervene in many of the situations we would like Him to, because He would have to intervene in everything we say and do that's wrong, right the way through to some of the most terrible things happening in
nations. What He does is He gives us signs that He is with us and that we can draw help from Him. Jesus changed water into wine. That had no function really. They had already run out of wine in the party so He was only aiding and abetting more drinking.

JM: So you think this is just a modern equivalent of that—this is a bona fide miracle?

GC: Yes I think it's true to say that God is touching people with gold as signs that He is still with us and although millions have turned their back on Him, He has not turned His back on us.

The report showed footage of a meeting in Surrey with Gerald Coates and Chilean Miguel Escobar. At this meeting, a lady called Sally was brought to the front amidst exciting claims that gold was appearing in her mouth. Standing at the front, with Gerald Coates holding the microphone beside her, she said, "If it is gold, then I just praise the Lord because I really want to show people how real Jesus is and if this is a way of showing them then thank you Jesus."

Sally's thanksgiving and prayer were certainly genuine enough, which is sad in view of what followed later in the report. A few days later, Jonathan Maitland interviewed Sally in her Kent home. Sally had been to the dentist and had the following statement to make: "The dentist had a look at my teeth and as I'd probably suspected anyway by that moment all he saw was amalgam." He said, "No, your fillings are amalgam—they're not gold."

Jonathan Maitland commented as follows: "But Sally says the dentist's verdict was irrelevant. Far more important she says was that she felt God's presence at the meeting and as a result her faith is stronger than ever."

As if to reinforce his assessment, Sally then said, "My faith has been here for a long time. It's not going to be rocked by the fact that gold did or didn't stay."

Another part of the report features another Charismatic meeting after which Jonathan Maitland interviews several worshippers. One claims to have gold dust on her hands, to which the bemused reporter is compelled to answer that he only sees sweat. The response from the believer was a relativistic "that's your opinion."

This feature was seen by many viewers in the United Kingdom and, as such, presents certain problems. Firstly, the presentation of fundamentalist Christianity in the media is at best embarrassing, and at worst a discredit to Christ and His Gospel. The report itself was fair. Jonathan Maitland did his best to present all involved in a positive manner. But the objective viewer cannot escape the conclusion that Charismatic Christians are quite willing to delude themselves and build their faith on experience rather than on the Scriptures. What is particularly distressing is that even when the world is not out to discredit us, we discredit ourselves!

When will we realise that the Gospel of Christ is itself a stumbling block? Our faith appears foolish to many in its purest form, but it is a "folly" in the world's eyes only, and a folly we are privileged to share in. But to take the purity of the Gospel and sully it with true foolishness is an affront to our Lord and something we should weep over. Let the world discredit us, but let us not do it ourselves.

But even more distressing than the ignorance demonstrated by the faithful adherents to these latest phenomena was the ignorance demonstrated by the one presented as their leader—the one chosen to speak on our behalf and present us to the outside world—Gerald Coates.

From his opening statement concerning the scientistís holy grail, to his explanation of the significance of the current phenomena, Mr Coates displayed a lack of coherence and understanding of our Lord's ministry.

Ask yourself this simple question—What does the phrase the scientist's holy grail actually mean? The answer obviously varies from field to field, but such things as cold fusion or perpetual motion come to mind. Just what has this train of thought got to do with the supposed supernatural appearance of gold tooth fillings or the materialisation of "gold dust"? With a little bit of thought, Mr Coatesí opening phrase turns out to be complete nonsense. Now there is a serious point to this reasoning. When one subjects the prating (c/f. 3 John 10 with 1 Tim 6:20) of this man to any reasonable analysis, it is found to be in want of reason and coherence. In short, it is vain and nonsensical babbling.

This is compounded by the utter lack of respect for our Lord. In the past, Mr Coates has described the Lord Jesus Christ as "fun and unthreatening"—two adjectives which are not suitable for the One who will appear in the air and smite the armies of the world.

In the interview reproduced above, the demeaning of the Lord ís first sign at the wedding of Cana again betrays Mr Coates' scorn for the person and work of our Saviour. If we display no respect for our Lord, what can we expect of the world?

I recently heard a preacher state that the significance of the Cana miracle was that the Lord Jesus was making the following statement: "The kingdom of heaven is a party—and the drinks are on me!" Such folly in respect to our Lord not only betrays the wanton state of the visible church, but also that many ministers today have simply forgotten how to preach properly. Take as another example this quote from Nicky Gumbel in the UK national daily newspaper The Independent (Thursday 17th September, 1998): Paul says "Don't get drunk with wine, be filled with the Spirit. Come to a party where you can get drunk on God".

Just how can we ask for respect from the world when we allow ourselves to be presented in this manner?

But beneath all the nonsensical jabbering of the Gumbels and Coates of this world lies a more sinister problem—doctrine. We have already covered the problematic doctrines of these two men in past issues of Vanguard and such things do not need repeating here. It suffices to say that it comes of no surprise that, in the absence of anything true and good to say, such men are left to babble their own inflated thoughts and discredit our Lord further.

by Siam Bhayro

Appeared in Volume 5.2 September 1999