SUMMARY:
Editorial Comment: Undoubtedly Assemblies of
God has become the largest of the Pentecostal
denominations and has made greater advance
numerically and in other perceived ways in the
USA than anywhere else in the world. In the early
years of my ministry we were told that in the
United States of America a new Assembly was
being opened each day of the week and four on
Sundays.
This was an annual increase higher than
any other denomination. USA has clearly led the
way in respect of their A/G *1 infl uence and other
countries have followed in their wake, happy to
imitate their ways.
Contributing to this has been
the traditionally strong and clear doctrinal stance
of the A/G leaders in USA.
Sadly things have
changed at the top. Doctrinal heresies are being
directly or indirectly condoned and endorsed
by the highest-ranking A/G offi cials.
It’s time to
refl ect and ACT before it’s too late.
Maybe it’s
already too late. Some time ago Thomas Trask
(TT) denied to me a rumour that he believed
A/G missed it when they turned against the
“oneness” teaching back in the 1940s and that
he was determined not to miss it again.
Yet, in
light of his support for what went on at the 100th
anniversary of the Azusa Street revival it would
appear that he was engaging in “double speak”.
I also wrote to him about his support of the late
David Cartledge who had clearly embraced the
false end-time “apostles and prophets” notion.
TT ignored me notwithstanding objections within
his own A/G ranks to the way he promoted and
supported David Cartledge’s strange views. I also
petitioned Thomas Trask about his support of
Brian Houston and Hillsong with their increasingly
obvious support for the Word of Faith and Money
teachers and teachings. Again he ignored me.
— PLP
IN 1973 as a student at North Central
Bible College of the Assemblies of
God, I remember sitting in chapel
when the president of our college
spoke about the dangers of the Latter
Rain *2 movement.
He told us, “We are a non-prophet
organization”.
In the late 1940s the Assemblies of
God had lost many congregations to the heretical
Latter Rain movement and many of my Bible College
teachers could still remember those days.
They
warned us to steer clear of any who claimed to
be apostles and prophets.
We were told to avoid
anyone who claimed “new revelations” from God
and to stick to the Bible alone as authoritative
revelation.
My teachers were godly men such as John Phillips, Wesley Smith, and William Snow whose
teachings were grounded in scripture. Because
I had some hyper-pious tendencies as a new
Christian, they warned me and encouraged me to
learn the Greek, and hermeneutics, and to not go
outside of the clear teachings of the Bible. (It was
Assemblies of God Pentecostals who brought my
wife’s family to the Lord while I was engaged to
her and ultimately brought me to the Lord.)
All the
Bible College teachers and pastors I had early in
my walk with the Lord warned against the type of
teachings routinely promoted today, teachings that
are attacks on the Gospel. In fact, one day a guest
speaker in chapel espoused the prosperity gospel. In
class immediately after chapel, our teacher warned
us that this was false teaching and it shamed many
godly Christians who had given much of their money
to churches and missionaries yet lived their entire
lives quite poor.
April just gone (2006) there was a celebration of
the 100th anniversary of the Azusa Street revival.
The celebration advertisement promised “The
Spiritual Experience of a Lifetime”.
On page 8 of the
glossy promotional brochure was Thomas E. Trask,
General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God
who was also a program participant. Trask called
the event, “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the
Pentecostal/Charismatic church to come together to
celebrate what began in the Book of Acts”.
The list of speakers reads like a Who’s Who
of Heretics: T.D.Jakes, Fredrick Price, Kenneth
Copeland, Benny Hinn, Jerry Savelle, Crefl o Dollar,
David Yonggi Cho, and Bill Hamon to name a few *.3
What these speakers all have in common is that
their teachings are incompatible with the doctrines
taught earlier in the Assemblies of God and at
North Central Bible College in my experience from
1971 to 1974.
Bill Hamon, who claims on his website, to be,
not only a bishop, but also a “prophet-apostle” *4,
promotes latter day apostles with new revelations;
the very teaching that my A/G Bible College warned
against.
T.D.Jakes promotes the “oneness” antitrinity
heresy also warned against back then.
The question is: who represents Pentecostalism
today? What happened to the generation of
Pentecostals that rejected the prosperity message,
who rejected the apostles and prophets of
the Latter Rain movement, who rejected “new
prophetic revelations”, and who rejected the
oneness message?
The generation that was fi rmly
grounded in the authority of scripture and the clear
proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ have
mostly, and sadly, passed from the scene of history.
Today, everything they warned about was played
out at the Azusa Street Centennial, portrayed as
the glorious legacy of Pentecostalism.
We cannot pretend that these teachings are
compatible.
If what was preached at this modern
day Azusa Street is true, then the teachers at North
Central Bible College and most of the pastors in the
Assemblies of God (as witnessed by position papers
from the 50s through to the early 70s) were in error
when they warned us about these teachings.
If what
was taught at the Azusa conference is false, then
current Pentecostal leadership owes an apology
to its predecessors and needs to repent of this
compromise.
There are still Pentecostals of the old school
who decry what is going on.
One is Dr Orrel Steinkamp, a retired Assemblies of God minister.
He publishes “The Plumbline” (74425 Co. Rd. 21 Renville, MN 56284) in which he warns about the errors that have come into the movement.
He
has archives of research material that show how
aberrational and heretical doctrine has infi ltrated
the Pentecostal movement.
Another is Rev Ray Barnett of Amsterdam, New York, who has recently been treated in a high handed and unfair manner by Thomas Trask, General Superintendent of A/G USA
( Barnett's article HERE...).
These godly men represent the type of leadership that I sat under in Bible College.
Sadly, there are so
few men like them left on the scene of history that
one wonders if the entire Pentecostal movement
will become a rallying place for heretics of every
shape and size.
If the Azusa Street Centennial is
indicative of the movement in general, sadly this
has already happened.
Footnotes:
*1 A/G is abbreviation for the Assemblies of God in USA
used throughout this issue of CETF.
*2 Latter Rain is a term used to describe aberrant teachings
that deny the trinity e.g. Jesus Only and affi rm a new End
Time apostles and prophets movement.
Iontentwill be added shortly!
*3 Editorial Note: Brian Houston was also named
– presumably as a representative from Australia. He
and his Hillsong Church are constantly in the news for
claimed abuses of one sort or another. Houston is well
known as a Word of Faith and Prosperity preacher, who
has been investigated for questionable valuable property
deals.
*4 < http://www.bishophamon.org/bio.htm >.
About the Author...
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Appeared in Issue 36 CETF 12.2 NR June 2006
"...contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" -- Jude v3
© Copyright 2006 Christian Witness Ministries, except where noted. All rights reserved
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-Last revised-
Monday, October 09, 2006
