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Mike R. Taylor 1st edition: 13/1/2001 2nd edition: 3/4/2001 direXions: DXO-175 London2001 © direXions 2001 1. TOMMY TENNEY The book The God Chasers[TGC] was published in February 1999 by Destiny Image of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania .1 The author is Tommy Tenney, an annual speaker at Dave Markees church, Follys End, in Croydon, southern England. Tenney has raised a number of issues as a serious challenge to the Church of today, many of which are valid. The radical solution to the Churchs malaise which he proposes is examined in this survey. The issues Tenney raises are rightly disturbing to those who are willing to think seriously about the real state of todays Church, particularly in the USA and UK. One problem area in the Evangelical Church concerns our attitude to the Bible, which is the written Word of God. In our experience-oriented culture, there is always the danger of people seeking spiritual experiences almost apart from the Bible and then pulling out Biblical texts to try to justify their experiences. There is a lack of testing things by the Word; people prefer to judge by other criteria, such as their reason, or their gut feelings, or whether it is in line with the way they perceive the purposes of God in what they see as the End-time generation. For this reason some people, particularly those frightened of fanaticism, treat the written text as if it has nothing to contribute to our daily life in God apart from the bare written text. This Word-only approach to the Christian life seems to provide an answer for the time being, but, in the long-term, Christians who want to know God intimately find it barren and frustrating. In this way, pressure builds up within and some believers, once thought to be so sound, suddenly break out and join strange Christian groups or give their support to strange emphases within Church circles. Our meditation on the text of Gods Word should always be combined with a positive seeking of God in the Word. It is not enough just to read the Bible each day. Our reading should be combined with a spiritual intensity which seeks Gods presence and voice in His written Word. Of course, the devil can try to apply the Word to us to bring under his control, so we always need to test everything that comes to us with power by praying, Lord, if this is of You, I accept it. But if it is from the devil, I reject it in Jesus name. It should not be forgotten that the devil quoted the Bible to Jesus Himself and he replied by wielding the Word. God the Father empowered Him to use a particular part of the Bible to oppose the satanic lie. Another issue is the presence of God in our Christian gatherings. Often Christians do assume that God is present in their gatherings simply because of Jesus words that He would be among us. But what is overlooked is that He said, in My name. Christians holding a meeting is not the same thing as gathering in His name. When we gather, it should be with the awareness that we are, on that occasion, gathering in or with His authority. Then we should ensure that we come with a right attitude: not just to meet with each other, but to meet with Him. This means that we are expecting Him to be present in a way He would not be present if we are meeting with unbelievers. There should be different feeling to the meeting, a sense or awareness of His presence. But this sense of His presence should resonate with what we know of God already in our spirits, if we have been truly born again and the Spirit of God lives in us. This has nothing to do with shakings or jerks or other bizarre phenomena. Then again, to what extent should we expect God to redefine the Church? Naturally, it all depends what is meant. Certainly if it means that we should reconsider the way we do things and not just keep up traditions as if they have acquired some intrinsic sanctity by virtue of having been done that way for generations, then it is true that rediscovering the Biblical definition of the Church is necessary. The Lord should be the One who directs us in all we do. Furthermore, it is understandable that He may not wish us to continue forever in some of our traditions. However, this does not justify the attempt to impose manmade structures on to the Church in the name of God. Much of what is touted today as redefining the Church is merely a sales-pitch for the agenda of a group of people who want to be accepted as apostles and prophets by the Church as a whole. The agenda of pastors signing cross-denominational covenants, and submitting to the control of super-apostles has to be promoted by threatening people that, if they do not go along with it, they may miss what God is doing today. Whereas there are good Biblical grounds for decisively rejecting the claims of these men who claim today to be apostles and prophets. The whole issue of reconsidering the way we are church or do church is important, but it is something that should be examined independently by each local congregation before the Lord. Another key issue raised is that of brokenness before God. Our obligation to walk the way of the cross is a teaching which is largely lacking in modern Evangelical and Charismatic circles. However, it is a fact that the cross is Gods remedy for self-righteousness, and even for self-consciousness, self-will and self-determination. Everything we are and have must be placed on the altar before God for Him to resurrect as He chooses. Our real enemy is sin and those legitimate aspects of us tainted by sin need cleansing, not destruction. Our understanding of what needs to be dealt with in our lives is usually distorted, which is why there can be confusion and why teaching on the cross must be applied by the Holy Spirit and not enforced by the will of our human mentors. Warped teaching in this area can be highly destructive to our spiritual lives. It is as if a surgeon in the course of his operation removed some healthy organs from our physical bodies. There is no teaching in the Bible, rightly-understood, which encourages us to desire the destruction or setting aside of natural aspects of ourselves in order to penetrate the spirit-world. Tenney raises all these issues for debate, and rightly so. However, the real question before us is whether Tenneys verdict on these issues really is Gods verdict on these issues. Accordingly, his proposed solutions will now be examined. Background Tommy Tenney referred in The God Chasers to his father as a national leader in a Pentecostal denomination in America,[TGC29] although the identity of this denomination was not disclosed in that book. Tommy Tenneys father, the Rev. Tom F. Tenney, is in fact the District Superintendent of the Louisiana District United Pentecostal Church [UPC], a position he has held since 1978. He is based in Tioga, Louisiana, and is regarded by the UPC International [UPCI] as progressive and visionary.2 T.F. Tenney is married to Mrs Thetus Tenney, a much-travelled international speaker and Coordinator of the World Network of Prayer, an international prayer service sponsored by the UPCI.3 The UPC is the largest denomination of Oneness Pentecostals in the world. Altogether there are an estimated 17,000,000 Oneness Pentecostals worldwide and about 2,000,000 of them in the USA. They are divided into many denominations and splinter groups, the largest being the UPC, which in 1997 had grown to around 700, 000 members in the USA. Five years earlier, in 1992, the membership figures for the largest Oneness Pentecostal denominations were as follows: United Pentecostal Church International (400,000) Pentecostal Assemblies of the World (200,000) Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ (100,000) United Church of Jesus Christ (100,000) Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith (45,000) Pentecostal Churches of Apostolic Faith (25,000)4 Oneness Pentecostals sometimes call themselves Apostolic to distinguish themselves from Trinitarian Pentecostals. Oneness Pentecostals accept the Deity of Jesus Christ and the authority of Scripture. But they reject the doctrine of the Trinity and insist that people should be immersed in water in the name of Jesus and not in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. T.F. Tenney (senior) himself insists that Oneness doctrine does not contradict the Bible.5 Other problems with Oneness Pentecostalism are legalism, elitism, and judgementalism towards orthodox Christians. Oneness groups tend to regard people who have not been immersed in Jesus name as unsaved and the UPC itself goes as far as to insist that people who have been immersed in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit must be re-immersed in the name of Jesus, because otherwise they will remain unsaved. This encourages UPC members to think that their admittance into heaven is decided by their own performance rather than by simple faith in Christs atonement. Oneness Pentecostals, including the UPC, insist that the reception of the Holy Spirit must be accompanied by speaking in tongues. As a result, many of them maintain that Christians who do not speak in tongues are not even saved. Hard-line Oneness adherents believe that they are into higher truth because of their superior doctrine and strict holiness standards. The UPC official holiness code presents to its members a long list of dos-and-donts. They are urged not to watch television or go to cinemas, or sports events. Women are instructed not to wear makeup, jewellery, trousers, or short hairstyles. Indeed, members of hard-line UPC churches are taught that Christians who are not UPC members are hell bound because they watch television or wear jewellery. The overall effect is that UPC members believe that they are saved by their works rather than by grace alone. One pastor, interviewed for Charisma & Christian Life Magazine, who wished to remain anonymous, said: I was taught in the UPC that we were the body of Christ, that we had the whole gospel and everyone else just had a part. No one actually came out and said that other Christians arent going to heaven, but that attitude was implied.6 Many prominent leaders have broken ranks with the UPC over the years. In 1976 Pastor C.G. Jabo Green of Houston, Texas, was elected to lead a network of dissident UPC leaders who wanted more grace and less sectarianism. This organisation represents about 430 US ministers.7 However, most pastors in this network still hold to the Oneness position on the Godhead, although they do not require new members to be re-immersed in Jesus name or expect conformity to a set of holiness standards. Neither do they teach that Trinitarian Believers are unsaved.8 Tommy Tenney and the UPC Tommy F. Tenney was born in 1956 and began preaching when he was 16. He spent almost 10 years pastoring in the UPC until he became an itinerant UPC evangelist in the early 1980s and continued in that role until he left the UPC in 1992. His departure was made difficult because of his fathers prominence in the UPC. With commendable integrity, Tenney (junior) said: Many UPC pastors preach against television, but they have their TVs at their homes on the lake. I cant live like that.9 He added that, when he left the UPC, his eyes were opened to how big the body of Christ really is.9 There is no indication that Tenney (junior) has renounced the Oneness error. Indeed, whatever his personal beliefs in regard to the Godhead, it is evident that he does not see Oneness as error as he and his father, who is still a UPC official, have co-authored a book entitled Secret Sources of Power.10 It would be difficult to co-author a book on a spiritual topic with someone who was deemed to be in serious error, yet this book is advertised on The God Chasers website, along with other books by Tommy Tenney.11 Furthermore, T.F. Tenneys support for his sons present ministry and The God Chasers book is printed within the book itself: This book points you in the right direction. I commend my son, Tommy, and this book that matches the times.[TGCviii] Either Tenney himself still holds to the Oneness error or else, unlike orthodox Christians, he considers it an issue of only secondary importance. Significantly, he also claimed to have received a genuine experience of the Holy Spirit within the UPC: I am a fourth generation Spirit-filled Christian, three generations deep into ministry ...[TGC2] However, unlike many Oneness Pentecostals, Tenney claimed to accept justification by faith: I am not implying that we are saved by our works. Salvation is a work of grace alone through the finished work of Christ Jesus on the cross and His resurrection from the dead.[TGC33] Tenneys spiritual quest Around the time he left the UPC, Tenney was dissatisfied with his religion. He testified: I am a fourth generation Spirit-filled Christian, three generations deep into ministry, but I must be honest with you: I was sick of church.[TGC2] This attitude persisted for some time after his departure from the UPC. Bishop Joseph L. Garlington Sr, pastor of Covenant Church of Pittsburgh (CCOP), Pennsylvania, testified: I first met Tommy Tenney four years ago [c1994] at a pastors conference in Beaumont, Texas. He was hungry for God, I recognised the look. It was the same one I had before going to Toronto a few months earlier. We prayed together, and didnt see each other for about two years.[TGCix] After this two-year break, they met up again: When I saw him again, he had found God in a very profound way, so much so that just listening to him appealed to something so deeply imbedded in our spirits that we were almost instantly in the presence of One whom this man had been chasing.[TGCix] What changed things for Tenney was a series of dramatic events on Sunday October 20, 1996, at Christian Tabernacle, Houston, Texas, where Richard Heard is Senior Pastor. Tenney wrote: My life changed forever on the October weekend in Houston, Texas, when Gods presence invaded the atmosphere like a thunderbolt and split the podium at the Sunday service.[TGC83] Tenney had been invited to take the service. After a tremendous build-up of a spiritual presence within the building during a time of worship, Heard asked him if he was ready to speak to the people and Tenney replied: Pastor, Im just about half-afraid to step up there, because I sense that God is about to do something. [TGC6] As Heard himself went to the platform he appeared visibly shaky[TGC6]. Tenney walked to the back of the auditorium and stood by the sound booth to see what would happen. Heard first read 2 Chronicles 7:14 and then said: The word of the Lord to us is to stop seeking His benefits and seek Him. We are not to seek His hands any longer, but seek His face.[TGC7] Tenney reported what followed in these words: In that instant, I heard what sounded like a thunderclap echo through the building, and the pastor was literally picked up and thrown backward about ten feet · . When he went backward, the pulpit fell forward. The beautiful flower arrangement positioned in front of it fell to the ground, but by the time the pulpit hit the ground, it was already in two pieces. It had split into two pieces almost as if lightning had hit it! At that instance the tangible terror of the presence of God filled that room.[TGC7] Tenney reported that it was two hours before Heard could get up again. While in this cataleptic state, the only sign of life was the trembling of his hand. The two pieces of the pulpit are now proudly displayed in the church. Apparently it was made of hi-tech acrylic plastic said by engineers to be able to withstand tens of thousands of pounds pressure per square inch.[TGC16]12 There is clearly a problem with manifestations of this kind. This can be seen by comparison with miraculous healings. When someone is healed miraculously, anyone, Christian or not, can connect it to the grace of God. A healing genuinely from God clearly reflects His kindness and concern for suffering humanity. In this way, the miracle has a message. It is the same with any true miracle of deliverance. All of them reflect the grace of God in a comprehensible way. This is always true of such works of God, whether miraculous or otherwise. However, sometimes God administers punishment to people in this life in judgment against their sin. This is actually more common than is generally acknowledged in modern Christian circles. In some cases, this is done in a miraculous way to produce maximum shock and fear in the observers. In the Book of Acts, there are clear examples of this. One case involved Ananias and Sapphira who sold a field and gave a portion of the proceeds to the apostles for distribution among poor believers. Their sin was that they pretended that the sum they were presenting was actually the full amount which they had received for the sale of the land. The Holy Spirit showed Peter what was going on and he rebuked both husband and wife for lying to the Holy Spirit. They died on the spot (Acts 5:1-11). Another case is that of Herod giving a speech, when his audience said that they had heard the voice of God and not a man. Because Herod failed to give the glory to God at that point, he was instantly eaten by worms and he died on the spot (Acts 12:20-23). Tenney often refers to Uzzah who tried to steady the ark of God while it was being transported on an oxcart to Jerusalem. As soon as Uzzah touched the ark, God struck him so that he died on the spot (2 Samuel 6:6-7). There are many other Biblical examples. However, the message of all these interventions is very clear: God was displeased with some thing the people involved did and acted in judgment against them. They all carry their own message and no-one is any doubt as to their meaning and purpose. But what is to be made of this strange phenomenon: the splitting of a pulpit? I would like to suggest that any unbiased reader told of the incident and without reading the spin put on it in The God Chasers would come up with only two options. At first sight, the incident sounds like an act of Gods judgment: a loud bang, the pastor being thrown 8-9 feet backwards and landing on the floor, a virtually unbreakable pulpit being split by a jagged break and falling forward, the flower display being scattered. If this is from God, it certainly looks like judgment. People would normally ask whether the pastor had displeased God in some way and whether God was about to cast off that church. However, the message of this incident in not so clear-cut. Why is this? First, the pastor was unharmed, being perfectly well afterwards. If God had been judging him of some sin, it would have to be really serious to warrant such a dramatic judgment and it is likely that he would have died on the spot, just as in the examples we have seen already. Furthermore, there is no evidence that that the pastor had been involved in serious sin of the kind which would warrant a public judgment of so dramatic a nature. Then again the pastor himself claimed that a number of apparently beneficial miraculous events occurred on the days following this strange phenomenon. And perhaps most importantly, there was no prophetic warning of coming judgment or prophetic explanation in terms of judgment immediately after the event to warn other people that if they engage in similar sins, they would be likewise wiped out. So, although to any normal observer, the scenario looked like an outpouring of Gods judgment, there are anomalies which seem to contradict this possibility. The second possibility is a poltergeist-type phenomenon. Poltergeist is the German for a noisy or boisterous spirit or ghost. It is the term used to denote spirits, or demons, which enter homes or other buildings to cause observable chaos. While the spirits remain invisible, they cause visible phenomena, such as objects floating around in the air and push objects off shelves to the ground. Although these phenomena are frightening, people are seldom hurt and objects seldom damaged. However, permanent damage does sometimes occur. If the phenomena at Houston were not an action of Gods judgment (which they clearly were not), then it would seem that it must have been the activity of deceiving spirits. Tenney would clearly not agree with either of these and suggested, instead, a third possibility: Ill never forget telling my friend, the pastor, You know, God could have killed you. I wasnt laughing when I said it. It was as if God had said, Im here and I want you to respect My presence.[TGC83] God repossessed His church for a period of time and He wouldnt allow anything to happen that He hadnt specifically ordained for that service.[TGC 83] The implication of this is that God did not possess His church before, or even after, these phenomena for any significant length of time. Did God otherwise disown that church at other times? What Tenney seems to be getting at is that God is not sufficiently present in church meetings in general. This is illustrated by a statement which Tenney made to Charisma reporter James Rutz in Houston. Tenney told him that he believed God had zapped the podium in two as a symbolic slap in the face for the tight human control of the church across America.13 There is no denying that a hallmark of many churches in the USA is tight human control. Americans are very good at organising and this can easily dominate church-life. So when an unusually strong spiritual presence took over, it seemed obvious to Tenney that God was, as it were, repossessing the church as if He had disowned it before. But this conjunction of human control and wild phenomena does not prove the truth of Tenneys interpretation. In reality, Tenneys attempted explanation is confused and highlights a general tendency throughout The God Chasers to attribute to God phenomena which actually have the marks of some source other than Himself. Indeed, what Tenney actually does is to take as normative phenomena which he had encountered either in the course of his Oneness Pentecostal background or in some other meetings he attended since, and then attribute these to God. In one case, he actually superimposed a phenomenon on to his reading of Scripture. He stated that Moses kept the veil over his face after the shine of glory dust faded.[TGC20] In fact nowhere does the Bible ever speak of glory dust, although this is a phenomenon which certain more extreme Pentecostal groups claim from time to time. The Bible just says that the skin of Moses face shone. It would seem that Moses skin became charged with the glory of God and functioned as a kind reflector for the glory. But there is no evidence that any shining physical-type substance was attached to the surface of his skin. The use of the phrase glory dust, although seemingly no more than a detail in Tenneys book, is actually very revealing and serves to illustrate a thread running through his entire approach to spiritual phenomena. Argentinian revival: the issue of discernment Tenneys discernment is seriously brought into question by his embracing the 1951 Argentinian revival described by Dr R. Edward Miller in his books Thy God Reigneth and Cry for Me, Argentina.[TGC 52-53, 147] On June 4, 1951, a Latter Rain style revival in Argentina was heralded by a supposed angelic presence. It was reported by Dr R. Edward Miller in his book Thy God Reigneth.14 Apparently, on that day (June 4, 1951), Alexander, a Polish teenager attending the Bible Institute in City Bell, a small town near Buenos Aires, had felt the heavens with its stars to be pressing down on him causing him to cry out. The stars seemed to change into great orbs of fire, becoming ever brighter. Then in their intense light a greater light appeared. A Being from the heavenly world drew near until it enfolded him.15 Trying to escape this Visitor, Alexander fled to the Institute. However, the Heavenly Visitor entered with him.16 The following day, the Heavenly Visitor stood by Alexander, who was transported in spirit to far away countries and began to make journeys over the face of the earth, looking down, seeing many cities and knowing the name of each of them. Beginning in Argentina, he began to travel over foreign countries, apparently naming cities which the Lord promised to visit before the end comes.17 Although barely educated, he was enabled to reel off the names in the native languages of the inhabitants of each city.18 The next morning, the Visitor manifested Himself and stood by the side of Alexander. He could not be seen in human form, but manifested Himself so markedly that we all knew that He had come. In spirit He was seen by Alexander who talked to Him.19 The Angel then began to speak in a language unknown to Alexander, who repeated all the words. Then another lad, Celsio, a local and even less educated than Alexander, was given the meaning of the statements in Spanish. Every time he tried to repeat these, he had a choking sensation and could get no words out. However, he was able to write out the words.20 One student felt that the manifestations were demonic: This is of the Devil and must be stopped!21 However, when he saw the messages, he changed his mind and concluded: I know Celsio and his lack of education and literary ability. Only God could cause him to write in a style like this.22 Although the sample of the writing provided would certainly seem to indicate that the writings came from a spiritual source, they do resemble spiritistic productions more than anything originating from the Holy Spirit.23 The following thoughts on Dr Miller and the Peniel Revival teaching by Char Stucki who was strongly influenced by him at a crucial stage in her spiritual life will be of interest. Stucki wrote: My husband and I met Ed Miller in 1963 at the Peniel Bible Institute in Mar del Plata. We lived in Argentina for the next three years and worked in affiliation with the Argentine Bible Assemblies, which he founded. The last year, we lived at the Institute and were in close contact on a daily basis with him, sitting under his teaching in daytime classes and nightly meetings. I have to acknowledge that I was personally bowled over and awed by the mystique of this man. I venerated him deeply as a person of intimate acquaintance with God. I believed that he had penetrated into a place in God far beyond the average run of the mill Christian, and having a very mystical bent myself, I wanted to discover the secrets of the Kingdom that he seemed to have discovered. I would often weep when he spoke about God, and then be alternately frustrated because his gnosis seemed to be so far beyond mine and so out-of-reach. It took many years to unravel the knot that the Peniel teaching that was perpetrated by Bro. Miller and his sons produced within me. The name of their ministry, Peniel, perhaps best summarises the focus of their teaching. Peniel was the place where Jacob, alone, wrestled with the angel of God and his thigh was finally disjointed and he declared, I have seen God face to face and my soul is delivered. Brother Miller himself claimed to have had such an experience of God years before in Mendoza, which he wrote about in his book, Thy God Reigneth, now published as The Flaming Flame. After an intense period of seeking God in prayer and fasting, God revealed Himself to him, and he heard things that were unspeakable to utter. Things that he said that he could never tell anyone, not even his wife. Secrets, hidden things, mysteries of God that could not be shared. Looking back on those years when my young, yearning heart longed to also be one of the enlightened ones, I realize that this was nothing less than mysticism, a Christianised version of gnosticism, in which there are those with a higher knowledge of spiritual things, people who have met the conditions, have pressed through into deeper spiritual realms and acquired an understanding that only comes to those who strive to enter and battle through all of the opposition into that heavenly dimension where God manifests and reveals himself. Besides this mystical knowledge of God that he possessed, and which others who were willing to belong to Gods inner circle could also possess, there was a strong emphasis on holiness unto the Lord. The church which Edward Miller founded in Atlanta, Georgia bears that writing on its pulpit. Brother Miller believed and taught that a Peniel-type encounter with God would also produce holiness of life and that a believer who had seen God face to face would manifest godliness of life and be a person of prayer, devotion, service, worship, separation from the world, etc. He believed that a genuine revival would bring believers into that kind of a life-style. He was passionate about urging people to experience the manifest Presence of God where they would have a face to face meeting with God that would result in a changed life. Who could argue with a goal like that, especially when as a minister, one is surrounded by people who often seem indifferent to God, or who struggle with sins in the flesh, or who manifest other carnal behaviors and attitudes? I cannot argue with the desire for genuine godliness or the fruit of the Spirit to be borne in the life of a believer. My contention is not as such with the what as it is with the how of the Christian life as it was taught at Peniel. (Though I would be careful to say that prayer, devotion, worship, separation from the world, etc., characterised the Pharisees and that all that glitters is not gold.) Romans 10 speaks of the people of God who had a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. A people who being ignorant of Gods righteousness went about to establish their own. A people of whom Isaiah said, they seek Me day by day, and desire knowledge of My ways. As a nation that has done right, and not forsaking the judgment of their God, they ask Me about judgments of righteousness; they desire to draw near to God. What was the problem? The problem according to Romans 10 is that they sought righteousness, but not by faith. They sought a righteousness that one had to ascend into heaven to bring down. Or alternately, to descend into hell to bring up. One of the major emphases in the Peniel teaching was that two pronged mysticism. We were taught that high praise would bring the manifest presence of God into a meeting. That when the level of desire and intensity reached a certain point, God would descend and manifest Himself and then people could experience Him. On the other hand, we were taught that God could only reveal Himself to a broken and contrite people, so other meetings would be a descent into agonising prayer and weeping and repentance over sins, and when the contrition and repentance was deep enough, God would also respond. The focus was always on the subjective conditions that God required from the soul in order for Him to accomplish His inward work. I NEVER heard the objective proclamation of the Gospel facts which are to be believed and received in simple child-like faith, or again as Romans 10 says, The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we proclaim). It took many, many years before the mental garbage and clutter could be swept out of my mind, and my heart could begin to rest in the finished work of Christ, the righteousness that has been given to every believer, that does not depend on my fickle feelings or subjective experiences, or some inner work that the Spirit does in me, but rather is a righteousness that is in Christ, forever settled in heaven - the righteousness that is based on believing the Truth of Christ and Him crucified, not upon my experience. And that it is as true of the weakest believer as it is of the most mature one. (Whatever that means.) This teaching was carried to its extreme, but probably logical, conclusion several years ago in Atlanta when Brother Miller was still pastoring there. I am hesitant to write about it, because I was not personally present, and only have the stories of a number of very disillusioned people who were there. The church experienced a move of God which originally began in Holland. What characterised this revival was that people began to have terrifying experiences of hell and judgment and their lostness. These were people, many of whom had been believers for many years. I am told that they would literally at times, feel the flames of hell, feel themselves hanging over a pit ready to fall in, would see scenes of the Crucifixion, would feel their guilt for having killed the Son of God. They would lie prostrate and scream and wail and weep, sometimes for hours, in agony. And then, for the fortunate ones, relief would come and they believed that they had been truly converted or born again. This became the standard for an authentic conversion, and those who did not pass through an experience of this nature believed that God had by-passed them and that they were not really saved. I have personally talked to at least eight people who were not among those who had this experience, and one who did, and they are all totally disillusioned and have been unable to recover from the damage that this wreaked upon their faith. There are so many ramifications to all of this, and I personally have spent years re-discovering the truth of the Gospel which I lost during those Argentina-seeking-for-revival years. The essence of it all, however, boils down to this: The Gospel makes our starting point what religious zeal makes the destination. The believer who does not understand the Gospel of Gods grace is constantly striving to arrive at some higher level of spirituality. Always trying to find a way to fix his sinful flesh. To become more devoted or godly. The Gospel justifies the ungodly and sanctifies the sinner and makes him in Christ as righteous and holy as he will ever be, because his righteousness is not in his flesh, but in the Man Christ Jesus. The Gospel freely gives a man who believes a perfect standing in the presence of God. And now, because we are justified, we are sanctified, we are cleansed, we are free, we can walk in love and the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us by the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. It is a life of rest and peace, not constant striving to become. It is a life of quiet abiding in Christ, not trying to get into Christ. It is a life of believing, not achieving or trying to meet conditions of intense prayer, warfare, break throughs to reach a God who is afar off. It is a life of being identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension, not a life of agonising for that mystical moment when God sees that I have met the conditions and comes and visits me.24 The menace of failed discernment It is significant that Tenney commends both this Argentinian revival and the Hebrides Awakening of 1949-1953. The Hebrides work was clearly a work of the Holy Spirit and, despite the extraordinary phenomena accompanying it, few orthodox Evangelicals would have any difficulty accepting it as a work of God. Nothing in it contradicted the Bible or what might be termed received Evangelical wisdom! This is quite different from the sheer alienness of the Argentinian revival which requires a fundamental paradigm-shift among orthodox Christians before they would be able to accept it. However, this seems to be no problem for Tenney in his present phase as he lumps the true and the false together without hesitation. Someone whose discernment is as confused as this is simply not qualified to deliver a trustworthy interpretation of spiritual phenomena which he encounters. It is worth noting also that many of these churches in which unprecedented phenomena of this kind occur are those which have already embraced the kind of spirituality associated with the contemporary River Revival. Failure in discernment is not necessarily a reflection on a persons character. He may be a true Christian brother. He may be the most gracious, humble Believer in the history of the Church, but if his discernment is confused by exposure to wrong teaching and acceptance of deceiving spirits, he cannot be trusted in this matter. In this area, uncomfortable facts must be faced. Only then can we help our confused brothers and sisters. In the case of Tenney, he was brought up in a Pentecostal tradition which is clearly flawed in many areas, enshrining both first-rank error and failure in discerning the source of spiritual phenomena. UPC churches are noted for the great exuberance of their services and for working up emotions. They believe that all members should speak in tongues. In Biblical teaching, the gift of languages is something which God gives to people in His sovereignty as and when it is needed. It is not something which people can imitate and use whenever they choose. Therefore, in any denomination, sect or cult, which encourages every member to get the gift in order to attain a particular level of spirituality or a particular anointing for ministry, it is clear that the majority will find themselves experiencing a manifestation which does not originate with the Holy Spirit. A book published by the UPC and widely read in Oneness circles is J.T. Pughs How to Receive the Holy Ghost. Pugh encourages a person to adopt the right psychological attitude when seeking to receive the Holy Spirit. The seeker must condition himself in much the same manner as a person being instructed in the process of diving into water in that he must [yield] himself over to an element and influence he is not well acquainted with.25 Then he suggests that the seeker try repeating a word or phrase over and over again as part of the his effort to loose himself from the fleshly process of thought.26 This is to help him suspend himself in the state of willingness and yielding.27 He further suggests that the seeker should deliberately move away from our own language and go backward to the babblings of a baby.28 Pugh admits that such babblings may not initially be Spirit-inspired, but if the seeker continues in the state of spiritual suspension and yielding to the place when he comes to a psychic zero, he will be filled with the Spirit.29 According to Pugh, this cannot fail.30 So much for the Lordship of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Believer! Yet even in Trinitarian circles, where people would be expected to know better, most tongues are a psychological phenomenon which anyone, even a non Christian, can learn to do, provided he or she becomes sufficiently uninhibited. There are also demonic counterfeits of tongues or languages, which occur less often. It is a sad fact that some demonic counterfeits are actually authentic languages, whereas most Pentecostal tongues are no more than gibberish. A person brought up in the Oneness tradition, which is blatant and utterly unapologetic about such psychological manipulation, yet still calling both his forbears and himself Spirit-filled, clearly accepts all such manifestations as true products of the Holy Spirit. But unless such a person repents of all counterfeits which he has experienced or accepted, he will remain undiscerning in such matters. His discernment will always be compromised until he stands in clear judgment against past false experiences. 2. GODS MANIFEST PRESENCE Tenney rightly distinguishes between Gods omnipresence and His manifest presence. God is everywhere; there is no place where God is not. But sometimes, for some special purpose, God makes His presence felt by Believers. Yet the way in which this is experienced may vary. Tenney does not go into the details of this and so the reader is left thinking that there are only two modes of Gods presence. It is true that God sometimes makes His presence felt by an entire group of believers so that they can all say in total agreement that God is present or God was present. They do not mean that God is or was not present at other times, but only that Gods presence was manifested on that occasion in so obvious a way that no-one could deny it. The relationship between Gods sovereignty and the spiritual state of the people in the gathering is not easy to fathom. It seems to vary from time to time. Additionally, the vehicle for the presence of God can vary. It can be related to the desire of the people, or it can be the result of an anointed ministry. Or it can be entirely owing to the sovereignty of God: He wants to move in that way for some purpose known only to Himself and does so before anyone can even search his or her heart. There are, however, other modes of Gods presence. Individuals in meetings can testify as to how they felt Gods presence, when others do not. The reasons for this also vary. It can be to do with the spiritual discernment of individuals or it can be that God has something particular to indicate to certain people, if only to encourage them. Then there are times when an individual is targeted by God in a meeting which everyone else agrees clearly lacked a universal sense of Gods presence. As such variations can occur within the same fellowships from week to week, it seems to me unhelpful to reduce Gods presence to two modes, as Tenney does. Of course, we should observe how God is working and seek to get as right with Him as we can be so that we are not a personal hindrance to the work of God. Of course, it is good for us to pray that God will be present in as obvious a way as possible. But none of these things can guarantee Gods obvious presence, although there is often a positive relationship between the two. This is not to suggest that Tenney himself is unaware of any of this. His teaching is clearly put in a simple way as possible to make a strong point. Unfortunately, it does convey a misleading impression by simply focusing on these two modes of Gods presence. Tenney and Gods manifest presence What does Tenney himself really mean by Gods manifest presence? Throughout The God Chasers, Tenney refers to Gods manifest or manifested presence. As this is such a key concept, it is worth asking what he actually means by it. To put it another way, what does Tenney think of as the evidences of Gods manifest presence? Actually it is not entirely clear what Tenney means, partly because he is trying to put into words something which he has felt, whether spiritually, psychologically or physically. In his description of the pulpit-splitting incident, he uses a number of ways to describe his feelings at the time: the presence of God was already in that place so heavily that the air was thick. You could barely breathe.[TGC5] Finally, the presence of God hovered so strongly that they couldnt sing or play any longer.[TGC5] this time in Houston, even after there was all of God that I thought was available in the building, more of His presence literally packed itself into the room. · . God was there; of that there was no doubt. But more of Him kept coming in the place until, as in Isaiah, it literally filled the building. At times the air was so rarefied that it became almost unbreathable. Oxygen came in short gasps, seemingly.[TGC6] In general, Tenneys view of Gods manifest presence is very phenomena-oriented. It is as though God is not present unless strange things are seen to be going on. Tenney himself is not unaware of dangers in that approach and even issued a warning: Many of the great saints in historic denominations and churches know that God doesnt always have to manifest Himself in things seen by the eye of the flesh. They would solemnly warn all of us, Dont come in here looking for sensationalism. Come looking for God and you will find Him.[TGC6] At first, this sounds good, almost a relief in the context of Tenneys writing. But when the small print, as it were is read, we notice that he says God doesnt always have to manifest Himself in this way. In other words, although there are times when God does not do it that way, it is the exception. Therefore, according to Tenney, it is in fact usual for God to manifest Himself in terms of visible or tangible phenomena. Despite all Tenneys disclaimers, when he speaks of Gods manifest presence, he is using that term to denote a power which almost always comes with the baggage of strange phenomena. This is made only too plain in a later statement: I must warn you that Gods glory, His manifest presence, can literally split local church bodies like the split body of Uzzah.[TGC93] Then he recommends that many a godly pastor should approach his congregation with kindness and diplomacy to warn them.[TGC93] What should such a pastor say? According to Tenney, he should say this: If youre not serious about seeking Gods face, then you might want to find another place. If youre uncomfortable about waiting on the presence of God and experiencing the weightiness of Gods glory; if you are uncomfortable with the strange and unusual manifestations that sometimes accompany His coming, then you need to find someplace less hungry to stay. Weve had church our way long enough.[TGC93] Indeed, as most of Tenneys descriptions of this manifest presence involve visible phenomena, the most extreme example being that of pulpit-splitting, it is impossible to escape from the impression that he is using the term manifest presence as a way of marketing what he thinks should be the norm for all of us most of the time. Clearly something is seriously wrong with Tenneys approach. It may, therefore, be helpful to outline two of its distinctive features. The first is the idea that God, in manifesting His presence, normally focuses His presence on one particular spot in a meeting. Concerning the pulpit-splitting incident, he wrote: I so sensed something was about to happen[TGC6] I knew God was going to do something; I just didnt know where.[TGC6] it could happen behind me or to the side of me. I was so desperate to catch Him that I got up and publicly walked back to the sound booth as the pastor walked up to the pulpit to speak, so I could see whatever happened. I wasnt even sure it was going to happen on the platform, but I knew something was going to happen. God, I want to be able to see whatever it is You are about to do.[TGC6-7] The second is that Gods manifest presence is usually accompanied by particular and predictable phenomena: Never take Gods holy presence for granted, and never assume that if no one is crying, shaking, manifesting odd movements, or prophesying away, then God isnt at work.[TGC96] Although this statement appears balanced in that people should not rule out Gods operation just because these manifestations are absent, nevertheless these manifestations are considered normative accompaniments of Gods manifest presence. Another statement is this: We have long enjoyed the omnipresence of God, but now we are experiencing brief moments of visitation by His manifest presence. It causes every hair to stand up on end, and it makes demonic forces flee and run.[TGC47] Does Gods manifest presence really cause hair to stand up on end? It is interesting to compare this with the manifestation of a counterfeiting spirit to Eliphaz, one of Jobs counsellors: Now a word was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper of it. In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair on my body stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. (Job 4:12-15) It is also strange that Tenney speaks of our enjoyment of Gods omnipresence. Elsewhere he described Gods omnipresence as referring to the fact that He is present all the time.[TGC36] He illustrated this as follows: He is that particle in the atomic nucleus that nuclear physicists cannot see and can only track. · . God is everywhere in everything. He is the composite of everything, both the glue that holds the pieces of the universe together and the pieces themselves![TGC36] Leaving aside the pantheistic tendency of the suggestion that God is Himself the pieces of the universe, it is difficult to see how anyone can enjoy Gods presence in the nucleus of an atom. If Tenney is to be believed, the problem with Christians is that they have long enjoyed the omnipresence of God, but not His manifest presence. This simply does not make sense. Generation of presence by worship Another tendency in Tenneys ministry is the suggestion that Gods manifest presence can be generated in some way by a particular intensity of worship. It is interesting that just before the pulpit-splitting incident, the initial build-up of the presence in the auditorium was associated with worship: As I walked to sit down in the front row that morning, the presence of God was already in that place so heavily that the air was thick. You could barely breathe. The musicians were clearly struggling to continue their ministry; their tears got in the way. Music became more difficult to play. Finally, the presence of God hovered so strongly that they couldnt sing or play any longer. The worship leader crumpled in sobs behind the keyboard. If there was one good decision I made in life, it was made that day. I had never been this close to catching God, and I was not going to stop. So I spoke to my wife Jeannie. You should go continue to lead us to Him. Jeannie has an anointing to lead people into the presence of God as a worshipper and intercessor. She quietly moved to the front and continued to facilitate the worship and ministry to the Lord. [TGC5] This was taking place immediately before Richard Heard asked Tenney if he was ready to take the service. Worship of a particular type obviously plays an important part in generating the kinds of spiritual experiences advocated by Tenney: God is calling you to a new level of intimacy. If you dare to answer His call, the Lord will reveal a fresh part of His character. He will pull you so close that you will be breathing the very rarefied air of Heaven. The only way to the place David called the secret place is through the door of focused worship, when you lay aside every distraction and focus your body, soul, and spirit upon God. When His presence becomes so strong that you are oblivious to everyone and everything else around you, then healing can come in an encounter with God from which you will never recover. Your heart will be as permanently disabled with love as Jacobs leg was with a limp![TGC125] It is difficult to imagine that a person could engage in such activity for long without finding him or herself in some state of altered consciousness.31 Naturally such states open a person wide to invasion by deceiving spirits which generate religious experiences. Would it be fair to dub them religious spirits? A down-to-earth comment by A.W. Tozer is pertinent here: Some who can get all worked up over a song imagine that this is the Spirit, but this does not necessarily follow.32 A Letter from South Africa Although not concerning Tenneys ministry as such, the full text of a letter written by Yvette Hoffman from South Africa illustrates most clearly the issues involved with alternative understandings of Gods manifest presence: Dear Friend: I write to you, as a concerned child of God and ex-member of ____________ Christian Church. Since leaving this church, God has revealed the true Gospel of Jesus Christ our Saviour to me. Among other things, He has exposed the true source of the so-called anointing or outpouring of the holy spirit which is being experienced in many Charismatic churches. Although it seems to have its origins in the spiritual realm, I can assure you that is most definitely not the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 11:13-15). If, at this stage you are tempted to simply shred this letter, I implore you to at least read it through, before doing so. If however, thereafter you still feel inclined to do so, then be my guest. After all, it is not for me to convince or convict you in any way. That is the work of the Spirit of God. It is however, up to you to decide what you are going to do about that conviction. You can either choose to act upon it, or you can choose to simply ignore it. In July 1995, after re-committing my life to the Lord, I experienced Gods Miraculous Healing Power twice within a single week. In the first instance, God totally delivered me from a sexually immoral lifestyle and six days later He supernaturally healed me from smoking. As you could well imagine, these experiences had a dramatic influence on my life. Within a period of six days, God turned my whole life upside down. I had heard that God touched the lives of people in similar ways in ____ Christian Church. But, I must admit at the time I wasnt really convinced that these manifestations were from God. I just couldnt believe that God would heal people in such strange ways. Then, to my utter amazement, I experienced not one, but two supernatural healings in the privacy of my home. I must admit, I began to think that which was being experienced in the ________ Christian Church must be from God. I began attending the Churchs services on a regular basis, but to my dismay, I didnt experience the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, I became extremely agitated when these manifestations of the spirit were displayed during the services. Needless to say, I became somewhat concerned. When I spoke to my fellow members about this problem, I was told that is was an attack from the devil to prevent me from experiencing the presence of the Lord and that I should seriously pray about the situation. Thus began a period of serious spiritual warfare against this attack from Satan, but alas, still no manifestations. I could not understand it. Why was God withholding His Spirit from me? What was I doing wrong? I prayed and prayed to God to Fill me with His Spirit - but in vain. I continually pressed in, but nothing happened. At one stage I actually began to doubt my salvation due to the fact that I wasnt experiencing any manifestations. I became so totally obsessed with the manifestations that I found myself concentrating solely on trying to induce a manifestation whenever I prayed or worshipped. It was only then that I finally managed to successfully induce a manifestation. To my utter disgust, this so-called anointing was a far cry from the wonderful life-changing experience which I had previously experienced when God had delivered me from an immoral lifestyle and smoking. I noticed that for some strange reason praying and reading my Bible suddenly became virtually impossible. Furthermore, I became aware of the fact that I often felt tempted to fall back into sin in the areas where God had delivered me. I asked myself, why is this happening? I was confused. Then I blamed Satan for the fact that I was unable to effectively pray and read the Bible. As for falling back into past sins, I promptly found Scriptures with which to justify why God was supposedly allowing these things to happen, but in fact I used these merely to lull my own conscience. In the eyes of my charismatic friend, I had made it! God was actively working in my life. I most definitely couldnt allow anyone to know that which I had experienced as the manifest presence of the Lord wasnt everything it was made out to be. I couldnt risk being heard speaking out against the Holy Spirit - after all according to Matthew 12:32 and Mark 3:29, 30 - this is an unforgivable sin. I certainly wasnt prepared to be guilty of that. And so, the masquerade began. I pretended to enjoy these experiences when in actual fact, every single time I allowed myself to experience the anointing, something deep inside my inner being would be pleading with me to put an end to the charade. I was bewildered by this predicament that I found myself in: . .Was I the only person who felt this way?. . Were there others who had the same problems? . . or. . Was Satan yet again attempting to stop me from receiving Gods blessing? Yes, that had to be it. Satan had to be responsible for these doubts, as well as for the discomfort I was experiencing. Of course, the only way I knew how to counter Satans attacks was to engage in Spiritual Warfare. Once again I launched a serious battle against Satan. I earnestly prayed to God to: Remove anything and everything in my life that wasnt from Him, as far away from me, as the North is from the South and the East is from the West. If it wasnt from Him, I didnt want to have anything to do with it. I thought He would take away the doubts and the discomfort. Instead, when I prayed to God in this way, the most horrific thing happened. God took this strange spirit away from me. Yet, amazingly for the first time in many months, I was able to read my Bible without having to force myself to concentrate on what I was reading. Suddenly Gods Word once again became a reality to me, as it had done when I gave my life to the Lord; I could once again actually understand what I was reading. Whats more, I noticed that my prayer life dramatically improved and that the temptations which hounded me before had disappeared. But, alas as far as the charismatics are concerned, it is only when we experience what they define as the presence of the Lord (or the anointing or the outpouring of the spirit as they call it) in our lives that we truly grow spiritually. In fact, according to their teachings, a so-called personal touch from God is considered to be far more important than the Word preached from the pulpit. What was I to do? I sincerely desired to become spiritually mature. So, I yet again sought the so-called anointing and before long I found myself caught up in an action reply of the previously described scenario, but with one small difference. As I had had previous experiences, I was now able to achieve the manifestations much easier than I had the first time round, but as I did, the battles against Satan recommenced. Surely something was wrong - But I was reassured by my friends that these incessant attacks were a sign that I was doing something right because Satan only attacks those who are making progress in Gods kingdom. At first I fell for this explanation, I even thanked God for the attacks, but after a while I began to doubt whether it was true. I simply could not believe that what I was experiencing was Gods will for His children. I simply had to find the answers. Thus with much difficulty at first, I endeavoured to seek answers to these and other questions I had in Gods Word. (The Bible). The first subject I tackled was that of the Scriptures used to justify these so-called manifestations of the Spirit. It wasnt too long before I realised how totally misquoted, twisted and misinterpreted these were. Should you doubt this fact, read the following Scriptures - in context: Acts 2:15, 16 and Eph 5:18 (being drunk in the "spirit"); Amos 3:8 (prophets - roaring like lions); 1 Pet. 1:8 (uncontrollable laughter) and Acts 9:6 (shaking in the Spirit). Dont just skim over them because you believe you know them. Read them carefully. Sincerely pray that God will reveal the content through His Holy Spirit. Should you still believe that they do justify the so-called manifestations, and that these are of God, then read the following Scriptures carefully: I Cor. 12:7-11 (Manifestations of the Spirit); Gal. 5:22-24 (Fruit of the Spirit); Romans 12:6-8 (Gifts of the Spirit). In fact, perhaps you should also study Luke 4:33 and Luke 9:42 (Demon spirits). I also had believed that what I was taught was Biblical and it took some time for my to fully comprehend the truth. The reason for this is described clearly in Isaiah 5:9 and Matthew 13:13. Christians hear these Scriptures quoted so often, they actually no longer hear their true contents. They only hear what they are taught to hear. Even when reading these Scriptures they do not see what they are reading. God has shown me that what is happening in many churches is that the truth is being traded for a Lie. The danger lies in the fact that when a lie is believed for long enough it becomes the truth to those being exposed to it. God helped me to see that what I perceived as being the Holy Spirit was actually a Deceiving Spirit. And what I perceived as being a Deceiving Spirit was in actual fact the Holy Spirit. Your friend in Christ, Yvette Hoffman (Pretoria, South Africa)33 All of this highlights the fact that Gods true presence, when authentically manifested in Christian meetings, always corresponds to what truly born-again Christians already know of His presence in their personal walk with Him. It is not some alien atmosphere or experience which seems out of character for God and which takes Christians wholly by surprise. 3. CHASING GOD? Tenneys concept of chasing God is dependent on his concept of Gods manifest presence. It is evident that chasing God cannot have any serious meaning for us if we already experience a sense of Gods presence with us as we do His will and are seeking to serve people by word and deed wherever we go. The back cover of The God Chasers says of Tenney, The magnificent obsession of his life is the pursuit of the manifest presence of God. What is a God chaser? The clearest conception of this is brought out in one of Tenneys illustrations: Its like playing chase with my daughter. Often as she arrives home from a day of school, we play this little game that countless fathers and children play around the world. When she comes and tries to catch me, even with my hulking frame, I really dont have to run. I just artfully dodge this way and then that, and she cant even touch me, because a six-year old cant catch an adult. But thats not really the purpose of the game, because a few minutes into it, she laughingly says, Oh daddy, and its at that moment that she captures my heart, if not my presence or body. And I turn and shes no longer chasing me, but Im chasing her, and I catch her and we tumble in the grass with hugs and kisses. The pursuer becomes the pursued.[TGC4-5] He then tries to compare this to our relationship with God: So can we catch Him? Not really, but we can catch His heart. David did. And if we catch His heart, then He turns and chases us. Thats the beauty of being a God chaser. Youre chasing the impossible, knowing its possible.[TGC5] It is as though God is always outside, shadowing us, and then teasing us by running away so that we just catch a glimpse of Him. Elsewhere he has said that when he plays hide-and-seek with his daughter, he always leaves enough of himself showing so that she can find him more easily. This, too, he compares with God. There is an emphasis in Tenneys teaching on Gods supposed elusiveness, whereas there is a lack of emphasis on Gods permanent indwelling presence in the believer. God is not trying to tease us into trailing Him through endless conferences and meetings into encountering His manifest presence, as defined by Tenney. On the contrary, if a person is a true Believer, he or she is already indwelt by the Holy Spirit. One of His works is to manifest the spiritual presence of Jesus to us on a continual basis. He does not plead with us to go this and that way, chasing God. Rather He encourages us to commune with God who indwells our spirits and to cultivate our relationship with Himself. Rather our constant prayer should be that we be filled with all the fulness of God (Ephesians 3:19). Chasing God and consumerism Inasmuch as people are encouraged to chase God, in the hopes of encountering His manifest presence, they are being encouraged to go where they think they can find Him: That is where we must stand, calling for God to show us where Hes going to break open the heavens over our cities. That is what Im looking for. I just want to find out where Hes going so I can position myself at the place where He is going to break open. There is an element of sovereignty in Gods choice of places. · . Our part consists of wandering through the wilderness until we find that spot ·[TGC55] He also recommended that people pray what he terms a prayer of the clay,[TGC101] which includes the following words: Come, Holy Spirit. If not now, when? If not us, who? And if not here, where? Just tell us, Lord, and well go; we will pursue Your presence because we want You, Lord. Your presence is what we are after and nothing else will do.[TGC102] Later in the book, Tenney stated: God has uncapped abundant standing pools of His presence that have brought life to millions of thirsty believers and unsaved people over the last few years. But they must travel to the well. There is forgotten power in pilgrimage.[TGC108] This, combined with the Western consumerism, which has now gripped the church in a big way, is tantamount to an exhortation for people to neglect their local churches to attend meetings where they thing they might encounter Gods manifest presence. So although Tenneys talk on one level sounds very spiritual, on another level it is actually very human-centred because it encourages people to seek God in the form which appeals to them: I want this; I want that. This is reminiscent of Pauls warning to Timothy: For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, [because] they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn [their] ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. (2 Timothy 4:3-4) Self-centred pursuit of spiritual experiences There is a valid sense in which we should seek the Giver rather than the gifts He is so willing to give us. There is no doubt that when Tenney stresses this, his teaching has the air of great spirituality: It is not enough to receive His gifts and walk in His anointing. I dont want more blessings; I want the Blesser. I dont want any more gifts; I want the Giver.[TGC54] God chasers want God! Not even the things of God will satisfy someone who is a man after Gods own heart.[TGC54] Most of the time when we get a visitation from God, our eyes are on the wrong thing. We want His spiritual toys.[TGC54] However, pursuit of spiritual experiences can be just another form of self-gratification. Most Christians like dramatic spiritual experiences and this is natural because God made us with a spiritual appetite. The problem is that, like the rest of us, our spirits are fallen. It is, therefore, essential that our spiritual desires be renewed, like anything else in our lives. We need to ensure that what we are pursuing is truly from God and also a part of Gods agenda for our lives. The possibility of spiritual derailment is ever present and we often lack discernment where we need it most. A pied-piper mission Tenneys pied-piper call is encapsulated in these words: All I can say is, Im a God chaser. And so are a lot of those who have had God encounters. Why dont you come join the company of God chasers? [TGCxvii] Tenney obviously greatly appreciates the writings of A.W. Tozer. It is such a shame that he did not take the following words more to heart before he set out on his pied-piper mission: We cannot help ourselves by going somewhere else or joining something new. Brother, you dont get help by going out somewhere and joining something. God is not looking for tags nor titles nor names! He is looking for people. He is looking for loving, humble, clean people, and if He can find such people, He is prepared to move in at once with great power.34 The contrast could hardly be greater! [ Continue HERE ] [ TOP ] Appeared in Issue - |