I've complemented Premier Christianity magazine on its mix of articles before: It doesn't present a plastic, sanitised or sectarian Christianity but instead an authentic version with all its warts, messy contradictions, unresolved questions and raw tensions. So if it's going to be representative of the true state of Christian affairs then along with what to me is agreeable I would expect to find articles by commentators that I wouldn't necessarily see eye to eye with; for example it has recently published another article by the fundamentalist leaning R T Kendall (See here for an earlier article). But even in Kendall's article we find him candid and up front about one significant aspect of Christianity as we shall see.
The article in question appears in the September 2019 edition of Christianity and is entitled Word vs Spirit. As I suggested in my earlier blog post Kendall is a dualist and probably a "gnostic" dualist at that; that is, he sees Christian conversion only rightfully completed if one has gone through some kind initiation into the "deeper things of the Spirit". In my previous post on Kendall I quoted a certain Jonathan Hunt (Hunt seems to be associated with the conservative evangelical Metropolitan Tabernacle) who comments on Westminster Chapel in the days of R T Kendall's tenure (See here):
The sad decline of Westminster Chapel into the charismatic
extremes of today was begun even then. (See the Rev Iain Murray’s comments upon
RT Kendall’s ministry here)
Although this quote comes from a rather sectarian source and must be treated with caution*** it is evidence of Kendall's charismatic credentials. Given this background it is no surprise that in the current article we find Kendall taking it for granted that there exist "Word" and "Spirit" versions of Christianity which fall into quite distinct categories: For him one can major in "Word "Christianity and minor in "Spirit" Christianity or alternately one can major in "Spirit" Christianity and minor in "Word" Christianity. His desire is that this dichotomy is resolved. But is it really such a clear dichotomy as Kendall makes out?
***
As in my first article on Kendall we find him once again casting aspersions on the church for its failure to live up to his expectations. His expectations are in fact predicated on his world view, a world view which filters his observations through a Word vs Spirit polariser. In his mind the church is culpable for not bringing together Word and Spirit. To solve the problem we must...
...all see the urgent need for both Word and Spirit to come together as in the book of Acts.
As is so often the wont of stern evangelicals like Kendall, he is not the kind of guy who minces his words about what he identifies as sin in need of repentance:
Those who read this (i.e Kendall's words) may - just may - be gripped to lament and repent over our situation and intelligently pray that the honour of God's name which has long been behind a cloud will be restored....there is no fear of God in the land or in the church....we are in a deep deep sleep with little or no expectancy and no great concern or outrage over the conditions around us
...all see the urgent need for both Word and Spirit to come together as in the book of Acts.
As is so often the wont of stern evangelicals like Kendall, he is not the kind of guy who minces his words about what he identifies as sin in need of repentance:
Those who read this (i.e Kendall's words) may - just may - be gripped to lament and repent over our situation and intelligently pray that the honour of God's name which has long been behind a cloud will be restored....there is no fear of God in the land or in the church....we are in a deep deep sleep with little or no expectancy and no great concern or outrage over the conditions around us
Kendall has a low opinion of both Word centred and Spirit centred Christians :
Those [Spirit] people who run to church because they know they will be riveted by exciting and fearless preaching are hard to find. So much of what comes from Word pulpits is "perfectly orthodox perfectly useless" as Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to say.
Those [Spirit] people who run to church because they know they will be riveted by exciting and fearless preaching are hard to find. So much of what comes from Word pulpits is "perfectly orthodox perfectly useless" as Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones used to say.
For Kendall large swathes of the Church are in the doldrums of an utter uselessness. People who love the Word are not seeking power and people who love the power of the Spirit are not seeking the Word.
But what does Kendall mean by power? To this end he alludes to the signs, wonders and miracles in the book of Acts. Fair enough; a few restored amputated legs, the raising of the certifiably dead, authentic prophecies and miraculous insights etc would be a welcome manifestation of divine power. (Although Kendall doesn't mention miracles of revival where there is seemingly inexplicably rampart conversion in response to preaching). Things like this are measurably hard evidence of God's paranormal power. But in a candid admission Kendall tells us that this kind of thing is exceedingly rare:
I believe many need to hear this message - myself included. I long to preach with power and authority. I personally experienced that kind of power and authority only once or twice so far in my lifetime. I have seen some miracles and healings over the years but very few. True miracles and verifiable healings are exceedingly rare.
But what does Kendall mean by power? To this end he alludes to the signs, wonders and miracles in the book of Acts. Fair enough; a few restored amputated legs, the raising of the certifiably dead, authentic prophecies and miraculous insights etc would be a welcome manifestation of divine power. (Although Kendall doesn't mention miracles of revival where there is seemingly inexplicably rampart conversion in response to preaching). Things like this are measurably hard evidence of God's paranormal power. But in a candid admission Kendall tells us that this kind of thing is exceedingly rare:
I believe many need to hear this message - myself included. I long to preach with power and authority. I personally experienced that kind of power and authority only once or twice so far in my lifetime. I have seen some miracles and healings over the years but very few. True miracles and verifiable healings are exceedingly rare.
Well at least Kendall has got something right; we see very little overt evidence of divine paranormal power. So why this dearth of miracles and conversion avalanches? But Kendall thinks he knows the answer to that: He blames their absence on church people who have failed to address his dichotomy. Yes, he's that kind guy and his message of a lack of faith, expectancy and failure is common in charismatic churches who seek to rationalise and explain away the absence of what their version of Christianity leads them to expect. In an inversion of Peter Abelard* one can hear sentiments very similar to the following among Charismatic leaders:
This kind of philosophy provides a ready means of explaining away crushed expectations by apportioning blame for lack of faith. In practice what "I’ll see it when I believe it! " really means is "I'd better believe it when I first hear it from my spiritual guides". What's being asked for here is that the "evidence" planted in the ears by the these guides should not be the subject of observation and critical analysis. "Don't analyses it" is a phrase that has been used by Ellie Mumford about the notorious Canadian Toronto Blessing. These epistemic attitudes disenfranchise the Christian's intellect and encourages the notion that a sheer teeth gritting belief is what is needed to conjure up the miraculous when the evidence, apart from the vehement assertions of one's spiritual guides, simply isn't there. When the promised miracles fail to materialise then the explanation that there is someone out there with deficient faith who is to blame is likely to cause bitter disappointment, recriminations, angry backbiting and division; when what they are hoping for and expecting doesn't come about a witch hunt may ensue as they seek for whoever is stultifying the power of the Spirit. What these people are unlikely to accept is that manifestations of divine paranormal power are not under the control of human strength of belief and that the appearance of this power is probably humanly inscrutable. There are times when divine paranormal power is very overt and other times when it is more covert. Overt measurable displays of paranormal power is an act of divine fiat and does not necessarily have a link with belief, expectation, holiness or prayer because the plan behind it may be beyond our understanding.
Given the bitter recriminations that often follow in the wake of the kind of world view that Kendall promulgates it is no surprise to me why many traditional evangelical "Word" orientated Christians (Such as we see in the Metropolitan Tabernacle quote above) have washed their hands of the likes of Kendall and even go as far as to suggest that overt Pentecostal power is confined to the early days of the New Testament. That may be going a bit too but I'll say this: In my experience many Christians cannot be blamed for a lack of motivation in seeking that the power of God's Word. As the saying goes the pen is mightier than the sword and seeking sensationalist spiritual fireworks before something is declared to be "in the Spirit " is going to underrate and devalue much of what goes on in churches. Word and power go together; they cannot be separated into distinct Spirit vs Word categories. Sometimes divine paranormal power is overt and sometimes it is covert. But Kendall's dualist world view prompts him to dichotomise sight and sound even though both are active information bearers:
How many
times have you said, “I’ll believe it when I see it!” That’s the traditional
approach, based on the ability to tangibly see things to know they exist. But
from a spiritual level, we want to switch that around. The Truth principle is
this: I’ll see it when I believe it! This means we see it with our spiritual
eyes, before it actually manifests in the real world.
This kind of philosophy provides a ready means of explaining away crushed expectations by apportioning blame for lack of faith. In practice what "I’ll see it when I believe it! " really means is "I'd better believe it when I first hear it from my spiritual guides". What's being asked for here is that the "evidence" planted in the ears by the these guides should not be the subject of observation and critical analysis. "Don't analyses it" is a phrase that has been used by Ellie Mumford about the notorious Canadian Toronto Blessing. These epistemic attitudes disenfranchise the Christian's intellect and encourages the notion that a sheer teeth gritting belief is what is needed to conjure up the miraculous when the evidence, apart from the vehement assertions of one's spiritual guides, simply isn't there. When the promised miracles fail to materialise then the explanation that there is someone out there with deficient faith who is to blame is likely to cause bitter disappointment, recriminations, angry backbiting and division; when what they are hoping for and expecting doesn't come about a witch hunt may ensue as they seek for whoever is stultifying the power of the Spirit. What these people are unlikely to accept is that manifestations of divine paranormal power are not under the control of human strength of belief and that the appearance of this power is probably humanly inscrutable. There are times when divine paranormal power is very overt and other times when it is more covert. Overt measurable displays of paranormal power is an act of divine fiat and does not necessarily have a link with belief, expectation, holiness or prayer because the plan behind it may be beyond our understanding.
Given the bitter recriminations that often follow in the wake of the kind of world view that Kendall promulgates it is no surprise to me why many traditional evangelical "Word" orientated Christians (Such as we see in the Metropolitan Tabernacle quote above) have washed their hands of the likes of Kendall and even go as far as to suggest that overt Pentecostal power is confined to the early days of the New Testament. That may be going a bit too but I'll say this: In my experience many Christians cannot be blamed for a lack of motivation in seeking that the power of God's Word. As the saying goes the pen is mightier than the sword and seeking sensationalist spiritual fireworks before something is declared to be "in the Spirit " is going to underrate and devalue much of what goes on in churches. Word and power go together; they cannot be separated into distinct Spirit vs Word categories. Sometimes divine paranormal power is overt and sometimes it is covert. But Kendall's dualist world view prompts him to dichotomise sight and sound even though both are active information bearers:
Most of my own preaching over the years - I wish it were not true - has been entirely Word preaching with little power. When people listened to me they would say "Thank you for your word". That is what they came for, that is what they got. They did not come to see anything.; they came to hear.
You can't separate word and power like this: hearing and seeing are both God given senses. Words are never empty and sights always convey a message.
But the absence of hard measurable miracles doesn't mean to say people don't have their own anecdotes of experience of paranormal power; it's just that anecdotal miracles have an epistemic distance which means that only those who directly experience them can imbibe their reality. But for the rest of us the human weaknesses for unreliability, gullibility and confirmation bias can compromise the value of anecdotal testimonies which report on one-off events and erratic phenomena. Kendall simply hasn't taken into account epistemic distance when he has declared his sweeping write-offs. Instead he embarks on a blame game which has all the potential to trigger off damaging witch hunts and divisions. Moreover, the spurious Spirit vs Word dichotomy can take Christians eye off the ball as they undervalue what they can do, what they see and what they hear and instead merely mark time waiting for enough holiness and prayer to usher in those spiritual fireworks. They then become perfectly useless. Kendall is part of the problem, not part of the solution: He is imposing his dualist categories on the church. No fear of God? Really? Am I really to believe that, say, reformist Christians who are so diligent in their study of the Word have no fear of God?
Charismatic gurus have a tendency to fall for a version of gnosticism: They cannot identify God's power in the everyday, the prosaic and the common place especially so as the church becomes increasingly marginalised from and irrelevant to the surrounding culture and its learning. So in the absence of measurable paranormal power they turn in on themselves seeking God in the inner life and in inner-light revelations of gnosis. The mass swoon for Jesus events then become the vicarious measure of power and an existential fix for an existential crisis. But such events are far too close to trance like states and group hysteria to be immediately classified as authentic. One has to be cautious about these "outpourings of the Spirit": They resemble too closely the phenomenon of dancing mania (and also this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-48850490) for them to be automatically and uncritically classified as authentic.
Lastly we've got what is very likely going to be another entry in my false prophecy list:
I truly believe that the Word and the Spirit are going to come together maybe soon. If Smith Wigglesworth has been quoted correctly, we are long overdue to see his 1947 prophecy fulfilled. He reportedly forecast that the Word and the Spirit would come together and that this move would eclipse the Wesleyan and Welsh revivals and spread all over the world.
Who knows; we may well see a display of overt divine power, but we won't see a coming together of Word and Spirit simply because it is predicated on the fallacies of a dualist world view. Whilst the activity of the "Power of the Spirit" is registered by dualists only in swoon for Jesus and mass trance events you can be sure that the polarisation will remain in place; for many people swooning for Jesus just isn't sympathetic to their personality and rides roughshod over their God given way of appropriating and expressing the faith. Let us remember that John Wimber's "Third Wave" never really infused the whole church**; that's in spite of the fact that Wimber's charismatic stance was more intelligent, more conciliatory and more inclusive than other charismatics before or since. The old divided order has reasserted itself probably along cultural and personality fault lines. But in the final analysis this may actually be a good thing: God doesn't keep all his apples in one basket. If one lot of apples go bad, there are still a lot of other baskets!
Postscript (19/9/19)
In the absence of the overtly paranormal (which isn't under human control, prayer or no prayer, holiness or no holiness) I can see straight away that Kendall's concept of a union of "Spirit" and "Word", will never happen. As I have said in the text Kendall's underlying dualist ideas are spurious. What Kendall thinks of as a dichotomy is in fact nothing more than cultural and personality differences in the expression of faith; some people lean toward analytical and verbal expressions of the faith (Logos) and others a more mystical and intuitive union with the divine (Mythos). The fault lines here are archetypal and can be observed throughout Christian history.
In my opinion what counts most is that different personality types and cultures cultivate mutual respect and appreciation. But even this is, I believe, a tall order given the human susceptibility toward spiritual conceits and deceits.. Kendall is an example of why mutual respect is difficult: The foible he exemplifies is that humans are precious about the maintenance of their own sense of spiritual one-up-manship and this leads to mutual badgering and the inflaming of mutual antagonisms. The irony is that Kendall himself is feeding these polarising fires and the harder he and others like him blow the more mutually hostile the opposing sides will become. As I have said below, although Wimber's "Third Wave" never broke the charismatic gnostic mould, the days of John Wimber do feel like a more reasonable albeit short lived era.
Kendall's article is evidence that the goal of some Charismatic Christians to "convert" the whole church to a quasi-gnostic version of the faith has failed: They brought no covert "supernaturalism" to the church (as Kendall admits) and only succeeded in dividing Christians along personality and cultural fault lines. They would not accept that these fault lines can be resolved by rising to the challenges of reciprocal relationships and complimentary service. Instead they only succeeded in inflaming and polarising the differences with talk of initiation into superior forms of spirituality.
Footnotes
* "I seek understanding so that I might believe" rather than "I believe so that I may understand". Probably the truth is an iterative combination of these epistemic approaches.
** That may be because Wimber's new wave never really broke free from the old Pentecostal gnosticism. Since Wimber the "Bethel" brand of churches represents an example of a return to the old ways of thinking. See here for example. See also here for a reference to Grantly Watkins who is pushing Bethel thiinking.
*** Sectarian groups have a tendency to solve the problem of unity by drawing a line round one particular uniform (and sometimes controlled) Christian sub culture and then declaring it to be the one and only true representatives of Christianity. In some ways Kendall is only getting from the Met as good as he gives!
