The Simple Pastor
By Phil Whittall, church planter, blogger & book reviewer
RT @lukedvd: Hope his resignation from the England manager job will allow @JoelVirgo to focus on his church duties #nomorehairdye 15 hrs ago
Now I know that what is called the charismatic movement in the UK is not entirely the same as in the US. We (mostly) have an equal distaste for the prosperity movement although we’re still too prone to fall like a teenager in love for any hint of revival (or at least revival where English is spoken, decent hotels and flight connections and no persecution).
Anyway here are some of the charges that MacArthur lays at our door:
“In virtually every area where church life is unbiblical, you can attribute it to the charismatic movement. In virtually every area — bad theology, superficial worship, ego, prosperity gospel, personality elevation — all of that comes out of the charismatic movement.”
“It’s theology is bad, it is unbiblical, it is aberrant, it is destructive to people because it promises them what it can’t deliver, and then God gets blamed when it doesn’t come. It is a very destructive movement. It has always been.”
“…the movement in itself, with all its components, is a disaster to the reputation of Christianity and a severe corruption of biblical teaching.”
Come on John, don’t be timid tell us what you really think!
There are few weak arguments to back his view up but even then they’re spicy.
“Apostolic gifts ceased. You can go to the end of book of Acts: you see healings disappear completely, people get sick and there’s no one around to make them well.”
“Do you think God would give Benny Hinn the power to do miracles to authenticate really bad theology? . . . I mean, that is ludicrous. . . . If those gifts existed, they would belong to the purest, most faithful, sound teachers of the Word of God to authenticate their teaching, not to hair-brained people who are just spinning out whatever comes into their head and are prompted by Satan, not the Holy Spirit.”
“You don’t read, for example, if you read the Anabaptists, read the Reformers, read the Puritans, they’re not debating tongues, because they didn’t exist.”
MacArthur did make some slight begrudging concessions towards the likes of Piper, Grudem and Mahaney but it just shows that in the reformed world there remains some significant bridges to cross and why conferences like this one last summer are invaluable.
‘select Arminians should also receive the right hand of fellowship.’
Which is good to know, although I’m not sure who gets to be selected or on what basis. But if offered I’d accept. I also recommend this resource to get an idea of what Arminians believe which is not always what Calvinists think as you’ll see if you read this by Roger Olson.
Most of the time I’m with Craig Blomberg whose term Calminian I prefer to Warnock’s cumbersome Arminocalvinist,
“I am more and more convinced that there are many godly Arminians out there that we Reformed people would do well to listen to more than we do.”
Which is, frankly, a relief.
Then today I read Dear Arminians from Justin Taylor’s blog.
“Whatever issues relevant to salvation we disagree upon, let us agree on this: the Calvinist and the Arminian are brothers in Christ. Both belong to the household of faith.”
Again, a relief.
(I’ve updated this section for clarity following an email from a friend)
Anyway a few thoughts on the question of ‘Who are the reformed?’ It seems to me that the ‘badge’ reformed is now solely owned by Calvinists. When someone asks ‘are you reformed?’, they’re actually asking ‘are you a Calvinist?’ Reformed is now distinct from Protestant. I guess that’s probably helpful. Sort of.
However I wish that those who were reformers (in their various branches) could also be called Reformed. OK so a lot of the churches of the reformation no longer seem to hold to the theology and doctrines of their founders but what of those that do?
Luther was reformed or at least you’d think the man who started the Reformation would be. So was Jacob Arminius in that broad sense. So were many of the Anabaptists – they were seeking to reform the church. And the Quakers. No idea about the Church of England and 500 years after the reformation they still haven’t made up their mind either.
A significant moment for me was when doing some training with Newfrontiers was asking Greg Haslam (then pastor in Winchester) whether someone like David Pawson (because of his Arminian Theology) be a leader in Newfrontiers? His emphatic ‘Yes’ was encouragement to me that this bunch of Calvinists was generous enough to work with other Gospel men on the inside of their movement if opportunity arose. Hopefully that will remain so.
I believe Jesus when he said 'life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions'. I believe he offers something better. This blog is mostly about that search.
I'm also a husband, a father, church planter, keen runner, reader, and motorcyclist. These and a few other things make guest appearances from time to time.
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