MOV:I chose not to be a Charismatic  by Raymond J. Storms

   APRIL 2, 1977. Tomorrow I will read my resignation to the members of
Calvary Assembly of God - a church which welcomed me over ten years ago
on my first Sunday in this Glens Falls, New York, pulpit with 28 men,
women, and children in the congregation. In these ten years, we have
remodeled and doubled our facilities, purchased a parsonage and 17
acres of land, started a school which has tripled in its second year,
increased our income 20 times and reached an attendance of around 1,000.

   Yesterday I wrote my brother, who is an executive of the "PTL CLUB",
to cancel my second appearance on Jim Bakker's "Praise the Lord Club".

   A couple of years ago, I turned down a stepping-stone denomination
job. I've been a fair-haired kid in charismatic or Pentecostal circles.
All of that when the charismatics are riding a big wave of popularity
on a transdenominational level.

   An ominous voice says, "You are a fool," and I feel frightened; but
an assuring voice says, "This is the way, walk ye in it," and I am
comforted. Come with me as I trace my search for the full power of the
Comforter promised by Jesus. As you do, I hope that you will understand
why, though I have seen more than one side of the issue, I chose not to
be a charismatic.

   My aim is not to fight or to hurt brothers amongst charismatics. My
aim is to help God's people keep from being fooled into accepting a
cheap 20th Century imitation of the New Testament reality - fullness of
power.

   Raymond J. Storms

   GARBAGE ON THE DOORSTEPS

   My father was quiet again as he picked up the garbage on the
doorsteps of the church that morning. Even though we had experienced
this before, as a little boy of three or four, I couldn't understand
the explanations given for such occurrences. We came to expect dirty
words written on our door, name calling...and the garbage at our
doorsteps. We would simply gather at the table and pray for our
persecutors.

   Rome, New York, was hardly a hospitable place for a Pentecostal
church to spring up. Most of our neighbors were Italian Catholics who
looked upon us with suspicion as the old paint factory on Spring Street
experienced a metamorphosis into a house of worship.

   I was born in that old paint factory in the plain, but comfortable,
quarters that were home to Levi and Alma Storms. Raymond J. was born at
home, so I was told, because we were too poor to afford a hospital bed.
We were even too poor to afford a middle name for the second son of the
tribe of Levi, so the letter J. had to do.

   Dad had sold his delivery truck with which he had delivered bread
for a local bakery in Carthage, New York, and had gladly sold the
family home by the Black River when he felt the call of God to found an
Assembly of God church in the needy area of Rome, New York. The money
was put into the church to get the work started.

   There were a lot of things I did not understand in those trying, but
happy days. I could not grasp why my Free Methodist grandfather had, I
was told, disinherited my parents when they were "filled with the
Spirit" at the "Old Glory Barn" in Carthage. I could not understand why
the rats didn't move out when we took over the old paint factory for a
home and a church. It was quite a frightening evening the night dad was
bitten on the toe by a rat while sleeping.

   I didn't always understand how food found its way to our table. Dad
had left a good job as a paper chemist at the Crown Zellerbeck Paper
Company to come to Rome to start the church. We lived on the income
from a little religious periodical that dad published entitled, "The
Lighted Cross". The name was taken from the lighted cross on the front
of the church. Many times we'd set the table for supper without a
morsel of food in the house. We would sit at the table thanking God for
the food and a knock on the door would bring fresh bread wrapped in an
old Italian lady's apron or a kettle of spaghetti from some kindhearted
neighbor who noted our poverty and persecution. Those were happy meals.
It was like manna from heaven! We often proved God faithful in daily
provisions. One neighbor came by with a large roast and pounds of
Hamburg almost every Friday.

   I did not understand the blackouts necessitated by our proximity to
the Rome air base. When we had a blackout, I was even afraid that the
light on the radio dial might attract some enemy's bomber plane. We
should sit in the dark with mom's knitting needles making the loudest
noise. We kids didn't want any loud talking to attract the enemy...and
mom and dad enjoyed the quiet. Dad had a thing for dark stain. The
doors, the woodwork and the homemade furniture were all stained dark.
Our blackouts were the blackest.

   I did not understand the strange language Jasper Compania and some
of the others spoke when they gathered around the altar for prayer
after the services. Oh, it wasn't frightening; I had cut my teeth on
church pews and that kind of service was all I knew. I did not see much
difference between their speaking in tongues with their hands raised to
Heaven and the Italian neighbors talking excitedly and gesturing as
they struck a bargain with the vegetable man who made the rounds with
his horse and wagon.

   If little Raymond J. found some of these things hard to understand,
there was one thing that I knew for certain: my mother was a holy angel
and my father was a holy saint! My brother, Don, and I almost worshiped
Dad, and we thought it was a big treat to help him as he labored
patiently to turn a paint factory into a church.

   If ever two boys wanted to be like daddy, we did! We would follow
him anywhere, even where we were not supposed to. I wonder if the visit
of two pajama clad youngsters to the Rome Assembly of God Official
Board Meeting in the pastor's living room was ever entered in the
official minutes. Although Dad did not seem to mind too much, he did
mind the time that my big four-year-old brother Don climbed a 20- foot
ladder to watch dad shingle the porch roof.

   Once the little Rome congregation was on its feet, dad felt the call
to Cortland, New York, the scene of my conversion. At 23 Port Watson
Street, next door to a junk yard and across from a bar, a two- story
imitation brick building housed the Cortland Assembly of God church on
the first floor and the parsonage on the second floor.

   It was at this location that I first remember my own response to the
Gospel. I recall the crippled Emogene Stanton's playing the Gospel
hymns on the piano and organ-like attachment we had proudly affixed to
the piano in place of a real organ. I remember the meetings with bald
evangelist H. B. Kelchner when I accepted Christ into my life at seven
years of age and I asked God for a double portion of Brother Kelchner's
spirit.

   I remember my embarrassment at the school when I filled out
questionnaires that asked for my dad's occupation. I couldn't remember
if minister was spelled with an "i" or an "e" in the middle. Deep down
inside I envied the boys whose dads worked at something easy to spell -
like plumber or salesman.

   I felt a little guilty because I wasn't sure if the embarrassment
was from the mental block over that middle "i" or "e" or because the
kids always asked the embarrassing question: "What church does you dad
pastor?" My reluctant reply, "Assembly of God," always met this query,
"What kind of church is that?" Is that one of those holy roller
churches?"

   More than once hot tears moistened my pillow after tasting my
classmates' ridicule for "that holy roller church." Why couldn't we be
Methodist or Baptist or something...anything but holy rollers or
Catholics! As a second generation Pentecostal, I can well understand
the consuming drive of modern Pentecostals to be accepted and respected
in the religious community.

   Poverty and ridicule are not easy to grow up with. One or the other
might be bearable; but combined, they make one ache for a change.
Perhaps it was that ache that drove my brother Don. He once told me,
"Ray, I am going to be a millionaire. My kids are not going to go
through what we faced." He was well on his way, too, until his oldest
daughter nearly drowned in their swimming pool, and he crashed his
private plane.

   BEAN TOWN

   The folks in Boston had heard of the preaching and miracles of the
small-town preacher from New York. I remember the excitement and
anticipation, as well as the sadness, as our 1949 Nash Ambassador
pulled away from the farewell banquet at the Grange Hall in Cortland as
we headed off to Dad's new charge, First Pentecostal Church in the
Boston suburb of Chelsea.

   All of a sudden we weren't poor any more. We didn't live above or
behind the church. We had a parsonage in a nice neighborhood on top of
Reservoir Hill. You had a blacktop driveway, a dining room, two
bathrooms, and a back yard that was fenced in with a chain link fence.
There were grape vines, peach trees, and an underground garbage can
with a flip top.

   We were treated like kings. All three barbers in the church wanted
to cut our hair, so they took turns coming to the house to give us free
haircuts. Dad received a salary large enough so that he didn't have to
hold a second job. We weren't poor any more . . . but we were still
despised. All of our neighbors were Catholics or Jews and, though they
didn't leave garbage on our steps, we still knew that we were outsiders.

   Joey Ruzzo, the boy next door, made that clear when he and his gang
dragged me into their club house, tied me up, and used me for target
practice with their BB guns. Holding a glowing cigarette menacingly
close to my face, he warned me what would happen if I squealed. For
years, until Christ cleansed me of the desire, I used to savor the
sweet but evil feeling of revenge that I enjoyed one afternoon when I
caught Joey in a vacant lot on the way home from school.

   The Catholic hierarchy of Boston also made it clear that we were
unwelcome outsiders when dad started getting the attention of the
greater Boston area. The community couldn't ignore the dramatic healing
of a cripple in our church services. I will never forget that Thursday
night. A steel worker, Brother Joseph Pottle, whom we all knew and who
had been injured on the job, dragged himself to the front of the church
for prayer. In answer to prayer, as he was anointed with oil, his
twisted body was straightened out before our eyes as we heard bones and
ligaments pop and snap.

   One day, as a man of the church was working out of sight in the
ticket booth of a theater dad had rented for some healing meetings, he
overheard two priests who had stopped to read the billboards. "We'll
close this thing down before they ever open," they agreed. And the next
day fire marshals descended and a theater fit for the motion picture
crowd was pronounced a fire trap for Pentecostal meetings. Only heroic
effort fireproofed the place in time for the overflow crowds that
flocked to hear Evangelist Richard Vineyard and to see the sick healed.

   It was the early 1950's. I was 12 or 13 and the healing evangelists
were starting to crisscross the country with their tents. I saw with my
own eyes what I am convinced were genuine miracles of healing. I wanted
the power of God in my life so badly that I told God I'd do anything!

   I was always serious minded when it came to religion. Once, when I
was younger, when the other kids were attending children's meeting at
Bible Camp, I begged my folks to allow me to listen to the morning
adult Bible teacher. From then on, I would sit and listen with tears of
joy running down my face as I savored the sweetness of God's Word. One
day a gusty breeze rattled the tent flap, making it hard to hear. I
wrapped the rope around my arm to quiet the noise. A gust of wind hit
the flap and yanked me off the rough plank bench onto the sawdust on
the ground. I picked myself up, brushed off the sawdust and sat back
down and listened to God's Word.

   I SPOKE WITH TONGUES

   A chill went through me as both adult and teenage prayer supporters
of both sexes laid hands on me as I knelt on the platform with tears
running down my face. I remember wondering how many were praying over
me. I did not open my eyes. I figured there must have been several.
After all, my dad was Pastor.

   I wondered, "Should I fall over or continue kneeling?" I thought I'd
have no choice. Others seemed swept over, or as we called it, "slain in
the Spirit." Oh how I wanted the ecstasy and joy of the others
described! I was trying so hard and God knows that I was earnest. At
that moment, I wanted nothing more than to be "baptized with the
Spirit."

   One from the chorus of voices all around me, praying for me and
praising God with upraised hands, spoke next to my ear, "Just praise
Him in English until you run our of words and God will give you a
Heavenly language." A chorus of "Amen" and "Hallelujah" encouraged me
to press on.

   I had lost track of time but it was nearly 10:30 p.m. at First
Pentecostal Church of Chelsea, Massachusetts. I must have been 11 or 12
years old at the time. And though I was small for my age, I was a
serious Christian and I knew I wanted what others were enjoying. We
were in the middle of a religious revival. Most of the 100-150 teens of
the church had "received." I was not about to be denied. It wouldn't be
a good example. I wanted to set the right example. I had learned that
by sitting next to my mother in church. If I got out of line, she would
reach down and twist my ear or pinch the tender flesh on the inside of
my leg. I learned my lesson well.

   When early arrivals left no room in the Storms' pew and one of the
little Stormses didn't have room to sit with mother, I got the nod even
though I was next to the youngest. My folks knew I'd hardly take my eye
off the preacher after I had finished playing my saxophone in the
church orchestra and found my way back into the congregation.

   I still had not spoken in tongues. It must have been nearly 11:00
p.m. The prayer supporters drifted away from me to pray with someone
else. I began to feel desperate. Was I going to be left out? Why
couldn't I speak with tongues?

   "That's it; you've got it!" It was my Dad's voice. I looked across
to where he had been praying with someone else who was now laying on
her back with arms upraised towards Heaven and a torrent of "other
tongues" pouring from her lips. With joy all over his face, dad
motioned for the girl's mother to come over from the pew where she was
sitting to listen to her daughter's "Heavenly language." Everyone
looked so pleased and radiant with joy.

   "Oh, God, me too!" I heard myself saying, "Let me speak in tongues,
too." With that, the altar workers took heart knowing that I hadn't
given up. As they came toward me, one of them said, "Just say whatever
comes into your mind. God will give you the utterance." Soon I was
speaking in tongues just like I had heard so many other do.

   I was so grateful to God for baptizing me in the Holy Ghost. I
thought, "Oh, how good God is! Thank you, Jesus. I'm not worthy." I
must have spoken in that "Heavenly language" for 10-15 minutes. The
thought passed through my mind, "This is better than the baby talk I
have heard others speaking." My new tongue was not just a few syllables
but several words. Over and over again, wave after wave of ecstasy
swept over me. After 20 minutes of "speaking in tongues", all I wanted
to do was praise the Lord.

   On the way home in the car, we sang a praised the Lord. Oh, it was
like being drunk or like what junkies call being high. They told me to
pray in tongues often so I wouldn't lose this gift. Paul was held up as
an example. I was told that he said, "I speak with tongues more than ye
all."

   The exhortation continued, "Speak to God in tongues for 'he that
speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto me but unto God.' You
have a prayer language: 'If I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit
prayeth but my understanding is unfruitful.' You can pray in tongues
any time you want to, for Paul said, 'I will pray with the Spirit,'
which is praying in tongues, 'and I will pray with my understanding
also.'"

   I was told that speaking in tongues would edify or build me up. "He
that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself."

   Years later, as an Assembly of God minister, I remembered and passed
on these same instructions many times. I remembered on one occasion
instructing ten "candidates" for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They
were sitting on the front pew of a church where I was holding an
evangelistic service for a week. I told them that when I laid my hand
on their heads, they would be filled with the Spirit and speak with
tongues. All ten believed and one right after another as I went down
the line and laid hands on them, all spoke with tongues. I remember
Acts 8:17, "Then laid their hands on them and they received the Holy
Ghost." How exciting to share apostolic unction!

   CACKLE LIKE A HEN

   A good-sized crowd had come to the front of our church where the
evangelist said he would pray for those who wanted to be baptized with
the Holy Ghost. One of them was Milt Nevens. Milt had not been saved
for very long.

   I remember the day I went to the Nevens' mobile home. Mrs. Nevens
had visited Calvary Assembly of God and she had rededicated her life to
Christ. She had been saved in a Baptist Church in Georgia but she had
grown cold. When I arrived that afternoon, she was packing her things
in tears. She was leaving Milt. She had had all she could take of his
worldly ways. Lil poured out her hurts and unburdened her heart. We
prayed for Milt to be saved. She decided not to leave him but to apply
a few suggestions I gave her and to believe for his salvation. Shortly
thereafter Milt was gloriously converted, assured of his salvation, and
delivered from drinking and smoking.

   Now he was standing in front of a Pentecostal evangelist as earnest
about being baptized in the Holy Ghost as I was as a boy of 11 years
old. Each of the candidates had been instructed that he should expect
an Acts 2:4 experience and then the evangelist and I laid our hands on
each of them a prayed.

   After prayer and encouragement from various Christian, Milt quietly
began to praise the Lord. The evangelist leaned over to listen to
Milt's words, and suddenly he exuberantly announced, "That's it! You've
got it! Say it again." Turning to me, he said, "He's got it, Brother;
he's speaking in tongues." I was pleased; but I noticed a faint look of
bewilderment on Milt's face, which dulled my pleasure. We went around
praying for others and the evangelist came back to Milt a few times,
encouraging him not to stop speaking in his Heavenly language.

   In a few days, the meetings closed and Milt mentioned that he wanted
to speak with me. The negative feeling I experienced when I saw the
bewildered look on Milt's face at the altar, crept into the corner of
my mind again. I sensed that something was wrong. Milt laid it out
before me this way, "Pastor, I don't want to be negative, but the
evangelist said I got it, but there was no change. All I did was say
some words that had come to mind and he said, 'You've got it!' Pastor,
what did I get? I don't want to doubt a man of God...but I didn't get
anything."

   It's not easy to see a sincere and intelligent man's faith shaken
like his was shaken. God had done so much in Milt's life and he wanted
God to do whatever else was His will, but Milt wasn't going to be
bamboozled either. He wanted the real thing, not some cheap 20th
Century imitation of the 1st Century reality. It occurred to me that
there might be more like Milt that weren't satisfied and were honest
enough to say so.

   I was speaking with some Assembly of God ministers in a restaurant.
The subject of Pentecostal shenanigans came up at the meal. One pastor
told about a technique he had observed where the altar worker told the
person seeking to be filled with the Spirit to say "la la la" over and
over rapidly. At first the candidate would be speaking in "Heavenly
baby talk" but soon he would speak a "mature tongue". Another technique
used in bringing someone through to the "fullness of the Spirit" was to
have the seeker breathe deeply over and over again until he had
"breathed in the Holy Spirit". This technique might be responsible for
a large number of folks being "slain in the Spirit".

   The topper of the evening was the unique method one pastor had
observed to be employed by and evangelist's wife. He said he had
observed the woman circulating among people praying at the altar for
the "fullness of the Spirit". He noticed that several of seekers broke
into a grin after she had spoken to them. This pastor's curiosity then
caused him to maneuver closer to the evangelist's wife so that he could
share her message of cheer: "Just cackle like a hen, honey; cackle like
a hen and soon you will be speaking in tongues."

   I just can't feature Peter going around the Upper Room and telling
folks after ten days of praying, "Brother, we have almost prayed
through. Now if we all just start to cackle like a hen, before long we
will be filled with the Spirit." I do not mean to imply that all
charismatics or Pentecostals rely on gimmicks. I know many earnest
folks who seek Gods power in fervent prayer and wouldn't knowingly use
any gimmick to counterfeit the fullness of the Spirit.

   The Biblical pattern is a striking contrast to much of what I have
observed in Pentecostal and charismatic circles. "Now when the apostles
which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of
God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down,
prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he
was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus.) Then they laid their hands on them, and they received
the Holy Ghost." Acts 8:14-17.

   THE HOLY SPIRIT JUST CONTRADICTED HIMSELF

   One night a well-known Pentecostal leader told me a few stories from
his large Pentecostal church. It seems that there was one man in his
congregation who used to interrupt the service at the most
inappropriate times with his little "message in tongues". The man would
rise and say, "Huck-shinney-aye," several times rapidly and then be
seated and wait for the interpretation. As I understand the story, this
preacher was a bit tired of these antics; and when the man stood with
the "glow of inspiration on his brow," about to exercise his "gift of
utterance," the pastor rebuked him with, "Huck-shinney-aye" sit down!"

   Most messages in tongues that I've heard were exhortation to live
closer to the Lord, to worship Jesus, or to get ready for the
Rapture...though one message in tongues of which I was told had this
interpretation: "Yepper, buster, better pay your tithes."

   I always tried to listen to such utterances with a discerning but
uncritical spirit. I had read, "Believe not ever spirit for not every
spirit is of God." But I wanted to believe that God had something to
say to me in a message in tongues.

   I also knew that the Holy Spirit would not contradict Himself. It
can be rather unsettling for one who was taught to believe that
messages in tongues and interpretations are inspired of God to hear two
messages that directly contradict each other. That is exactly what I
heard at the New York District Council of the Assemblies of God in May
of 1973.

   I had just spoken for 45 minutes against Assembly of God involvement
in the ecumenical evangelism of "Key '73". There was debate and
rebuttal and the two messages on tongues with interpretation. The first
interpretation went something like this: "Thou hast deliberated long
enough it is time to vote. God will show His will in the ballot."

   The second interpretation went like this: "Thou are not ready to
vote; Thou shouldst go to prayer to find the mind of God."

   I remember thinking, "If this is of the Holy Spirit, then the Holy
Spirit just contradicted Himself." I waited for the District
Superintendent to clear up the confusion, but not one word of censure
or instruction relative to the two messages was forthcoming from the
four District Officers nor the ten sectional presbyters who were seated
on the platform. Surely this august body of mature Pentecostals would
know what to do!

   Why was this confusion not cleared up? "Let the trumpet give a
certain sound," I thought. And there was not any more clarity when the
vote was taken on the "Key '73" issue. These pastors and delegates
voted to warn our people of the dangers of a "Key '73" type of
involvement but they voted not to pull out of it.

   2,000 VERSES MANY FULL GOSPEL PEOPLE DON'T BELIEVE

   I don't know how many times I have heard statements like this, "We
believe the whole Bible; we don't have to cut out parts of Acts or 1
Corinthians." I was proud to be full Gospel and I even preached sermons
on being "full Gospel" because I was convinced that those who did not
speak with tongues were second-rate Christians.

   One of the most beautiful saints and Bible teachers I've known was
my Old Testament and Theology teacher at North Central Bible College in
Minneapolis, the late T.J. Jones. Brother Jones was a real man of God.
I caught from him a real love for God's Word.

   Brother Jones was from England and he told this story of his passage
to America. It seems that Rev. Jones had only enough money to purchase
his steamship ticket to America; and, not knowing that the price of the
ticket included the meals during the crossing, he packed crackers and
cheese to sustain him on the voyage.

   After some days, the captain noted that passenger Jones was not seen
taking meals with the other travelers. The captain's inquiry led to the
discovery of the reason. With the misunderstanding cleared up, Brother
Jones was invited to dine that evening at the captain's table, and for
the rest of the trip, the English Bible teacher enjoyed the finest fare.

   Both Brother Jones and I used to delight in using that as an
illustration of the difference between being a Christian and being a
tongues-talking Pentecostal. I was told that the other Christians live
on crackers and cheese; we tongues-talking Pentecostal dine at the
Captain's table.

   I felt like "we've got it all; they don't have much," until one day
I met some powerful soul-winning Christians who had a whole lot more
than I had. And as I looked around the auditorium where these
Christians worship, I noticed hundreds of other Pentecostal preachers
who had also come to see what they had at-of all places-First Baptist
Church of Hammond, Indiana. I thought, after I had looked around and
had seen some Assembly of God District Officials who had recommended
that I attend Jack Hyles' Pastor's School, "If we are full Gospel and
they are part Gospel, what are we doing here learning from them? They
should be learning from us."

   So I concluded, "If they have something you don't, Storms, you'd
better put aside denominational bigotry and learn, not to criticize." I
have since learned that there are some parts of the Bible we either
didn't believe or we didn't practice. Here are some examples.

   SEPARATION

   There are 1897 verses in the Bible on separation from worldliness.
When I was a kid, we heard red-hot sermons on the subject, "Come out
from among them and be ye separate," and "Touch not the unclean thing."
The new charismatics' message seems to be "Go ye in among them and be
one with them and don't be stuffy." I am grieved when Assembly of God
deacon's kids tell my kids about Hollywood movies and school dances to
which their parents have taken them. I cringe at the braless, hip
hugger, mini-skirted, bare-bellied girls and long-haired hippie-looking
boys that gather at "Full Gospel" youth gatherings representing the
"cream of our Spirit-filled youth."

   It is wrong for a pastor to use real wine in the Lord's Supper just
to please the new charismatics! It is wrong for a pastor to take his
Sunday School teachers out for dinner and then serve the booze. It is
wrong for the "Spirit-filled" show business people to earn their money
in strip joints and gambling casinos and hell holes serving the devil's
crowd rather than rebuking them. God wants us to be in the world, but
not like the world.

   Jesus was separated from sinners, as we see in Hebrews 7:26. We
should be, too. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him." 1 John 2:15-16.

   "And every man that hath this hope purifieth himself, even as he is
pure." 1 John 3:3 "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure,
having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every
one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 2 Timothy
2:19.

   Jesus set the right example for us in the matter of separation. "For
such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens." Hebrews 7:26.

   ECUMENICAL INVOLVEMENT

   1 John 4:1-3 exhorts us, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try
the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are
gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit
that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And
every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God: and this is that spirit of antiChrist, whereof ye have
heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world."

   What kind of relationship can we have with those who deny the virgin
birth, the facts of Christ's coming in the flesh to die and that He was
raised up from the dead? John, who speaks so much of love for other
believers, speaks out strongly on this issue, "Who is a liar but he
that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antiChrist, that denieth
the Father and the Son." If a man denies the deity of Christ, the
anointed One, whose blood cleanses us from all sin, he is "AntiChrist"
and a "liar". Yet it seems to me that many charismatics call some folks
"Brother" who do not believe that Jesus is the virgin- born son of God.
These liars teach that there are some sins for which the blood of
Christ will not atone, so we must burn in purgatory or earn Heaven by
good works. They walk in darkness of man's doctrines and superstition.
"If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we
lie and do not the truth." 1 John 1:6.

   "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what
fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion
hathlight with darkness?" 2 Corinthians 6:14.

   "Be not ye therefore partakers with them." "and have no fellowship
with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."
Ephesians 5:7 & 11.

   "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ,
he hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath
both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not
this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him
Godspeed: for he that biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil
deeds." 2 John 9-11.

   "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel
unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed." Gal. 1:8.

   However spiritual, gifted, or angelic a person may be, if he
preaches another Gospel, we are not to receive him: "Let him be
accursed."

   I have seen charismatics laud unity with those who preach another
Gospel. I have seen writeups which extol the lion lying down with the
lamb, so to speak but that won't happen till Jesus comes. Charismatics
don't seem to believe what the Bible says about ecumenical involvement
with unbelievers, Bible deniers, and false teachers.

   Revelation 17-18 tells about that great harlot and spiritual
Babylon, which I believe to the the one-world apostate religion on the
last days. The Word says, "And I heard another voice from heaven,
saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Revelation 18:4. We see
this mindless ecumenism forming religious alliances in our day, and the
sad things is that many born-again folks are so blind that they join in
fellowship with those that preach another Gospel. It seems that
charismatics make tongues the basis for fellowship. Well, the devil can
speak with tongues and the flesh can mimic tongues. Salvation is the
basis for our fellowship not tongues.

   Ecumenical teaching which doesn't make the faith once delivered unto
the saints its ground for cooperation, falls into the same doctrinal
error as Baalam did. Mindless ecumenism is a modern-day manifestation
of the doctrine of Baalam and a stumbling block to God's people.

   CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH

   It seems to me that charismatics and new evangelicals are afraid
that they might offend someone if they "contend for the faith once
delivered unto the saints."

   "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that
you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered
unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were
before of old ordained to this condemnation, unGodly men, turning the
grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God,
and our Lord Jesus Christ." Jude 3-4.

   Paul told Timothy, "fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on
eternal life, where unto thou are also called, and hast professed a
good profession before many witnesses." 1 Timothy 6:12. The militant
side of the Christian life can be neglected for the devotional side,
any more than the devotional side of the Christian life can be
neglected for the militant. We can be loving and contend for the faith.
We can contend for the faith without being contentious. We must not
allow false doctrine to creep into our midst because we are too loving
to fight it. Spurgeon said, "Lie down with dogs, rise up with fleas."
When we hang around with liberals and modernists and Catholics, we will
soon start acting like them. A good illustration of this is found in an
article in "Jesus To The Communist World:"

   "Brother Thomas Zimmerman is general super-intendant of the
Assemblies of God in the U.S.A. and head of the World Pentecostal
Conference. He has asserted continually that he himself has seen
freedom of religion in the SOVIETS. We provided him with all the
material proving that Pentecostals in Russia are imprisoned, put in
psychiatric asylums, sometimes killed. The persecution is substantiated
by the Soviet press itself. No Pentecostal Union is allowed to exist in
Russia. Notwithstanding, he invited a Soviet delegation, consisting of
Communist agents, to the World Pentecostal Congress in London.

   "We asked ourselves how a man baptized with the Holy Spirit could be
so blind to obvious facts? We now have a possible answer. Rev.
Zimmerman has allegedly misused hundreds of thousands of dollars
belonging to the church. The Internal Revenue Service is looking into
this matter. (St. Louis Globe Democrat of January 9, 1977).

   "Cash was effective even with an apostle. Could this be one
explanation why some American Church leaders praise the nonexistent
Soviet liberties and turn against us?"

   The Assemblies of God has rubbed shoulders with folks from the world
Council of Churches in activities like "Key '73" and now they are
talking the same line. The doctrines of separation have been neglected
in Assembly of God circles of late, so now Assembly of God people feel
no convictions about having fellowship with those atheistic Communist
agents.

   Paul warned Timothy, "For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to
themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away
their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2 Timothy
4:3-4. He loved God, the truth, and God's people enough to fight
"doctrines of devils" and to "contend for the faith." Would to God that
charismatics had that kind of love instead of this wishy- washy
sentimental love that won't even contend with the devil!

   GOING TO LAW WITH BROTHERS

   The "Largest charismatic fellowship in the world", the Assemblies of
God, does not follow the instruction found in 1 Corinthians 6:1-8. such
terms as "Full Gospel" and "all the Gospel" are a mockery when they
pick out passages of Scripture and ignore them.

   1 Corinthians 6:1-8 is very plain: "Dare any of you, having a matter
against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the
saints? Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if
the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the
smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more
things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things
pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in
the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise
man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his
brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the
unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because
ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do
ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and
defraud, and that your brethren."

   Jesus made a plain statement on the matter, "But I say unto you,
That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on the right
cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at law,
and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also." Matt. 5:39-40.

   When our congregation became convinced of the worldly and
compromising trend in the Assemblies of God, we voted unanimously to
eliminate all reference to affiliation with the Assemblies of God from
our Constitution and By-laws. A year later, when we announced our
independence, the New York District Council of Assemblies of God sued
our church. We offered to have the matter settled in a Biblical manner
before a panel of five Christians. They have, as of this writing, made
no reply to that offer and continued the suit.

   We offered to turn over all of the assets which our congregation
owns to the handful of dissidents that arose in our church, but it has
been reported that they intend to destroy us. It appears that someone
does not believe these precious verses of God's Word. "Recompense to no
man evil of evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it
be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto
wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the
Lord." Romans 12:17-19.

   The Assemblies of God is saying that we are stealing the church from
them. That is strange since the deed is in our (the local
congregation's) name. But, be that as it may, Proverbs 20:22 says, "Say
not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the Lord, and he shall
save thee." It seems that this large group of charismatics doesn't
believe that, just as they don't believe other parts of the Gospel of
Jesus.

   FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT AT FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN HAMMOND

   I sat with a few thousand preachers in Pastor's School at First
Baptist Church in Hammond where Dr. Jack Hyles shares freely with
fundamental pastors how God has helped them grow in modern times. It is
a church of 38,000 members and a high attendance of over 100,000. I saw
Assemblies of God pastors, and even Assembly of God District Officials,
in attendance. In fact, an Assemblies of God Official had recommended
that I attend. I saw 1,000 come to Christ that Sunday morning. I saw
love and excitement about God's work. I heard straight, strong
preaching. If my pentecostal background hadn't told me differently, I
would have thought that these people believed in Holy Ghost power. I
thought to myself, "If we are 'Full Gospel' and this is a 'part Gospel'
church, then what are we doing here listening to them tell us how to do
a great work for God. Why aren't they asking us how we are doing it!"

   I was told that the average Assembly of God Sunday School that year
ran 80 in attendance. Here was a church with a Sunday School attendance
of over 100,000 on one Sunday! I decided that I would not be a smart
alack and just come home with gimmicks to promote the attendance and
ideas for Sunday School campaigns; I decided to have the powers that
made that church work. I cried and prayed and begged God for power as I
saw the fruit born in that church.

   One night I prayed most of that night. In the basement of a member's
home of First Baptist Church, with men who were attending the Pastor's
School sleeping in cots all around me, I told God that I had to have
power to win souls. I told Him it didn't matter to me how He did it or
what accompanied it, but I wanted the power! I desperately wanted to
see souls saved. I had caught the vision of that church.

   The next evening when Pastor Hyles preached on "Fresh Oil," he told
of the need of being filled with the Spirit and refilled over and over
again. He invited preachers who wanted Holy Ghost power to come to the
front for prayer. The aisles were jammed. I couldn't get out of the
balcony. Brother Hyles called on Spirit-filled pastors who were in the
audience to pray with those that couldn't get to the altar.

   Pastor Ed Nelson stood at the end of my aisle. When it came my turn,
I told him, "I have the name that I am Spirit-filled, but I am not.
Pray that God will give me fullness of power." He prayed and I returned
to my seat. There was no thrill nor ecstasy - no outward evidence -
only an inward assurance that the Father will give the power of the
Holy Spirit to them that ask, and if I ask for bread, He will not give
me a stone. I knew in my heart that God had kept His promise.

   The next morning I drove past the church and let some people off and
then parked the car a couple of blocks away. I was running down the
street so that I wouldn't be late. I didn't have a Bible in my hand; it
was with the group I had let off at church. I wasn't wearing a badge
that identified me as a minister or as attending Pastor's School. I
probably didn't look as much like a fundamental preacher as I do now. A
big truck honked at me and parked in traffic. A man got out and chased
me, asking if I had something to tell him. I stopped, somewhat out of
breath (as much from the excitement as from running), as the man asked
me how to be saved. He said that something just told him that he had to
speak with me. I took out my New Testament and led him to the Lord as
his buddy in the cab of that big truck honked impatiently because the
truck was blocking traffic. That man bowed his head there on the street
and found Christ. He promised to attend First Baptist Church that
Sunday, make a public confession, and be baptized.

   I had never had anyone chase me down, asking to be saved. A man fell
under conviction in a truck and ran me down to find Christ. I knew that
God had answered my prayer. Though I had always emphasized soul winning
and had won many souls, in the next six months I won more souls than I
had in my whole life. In the next three months, our church attendance
averaged the highest we had ever reached.

   I must be honest and say that I allowed the battles of the next year
to discourage me. I became discouraged over an assistant pastor who
worked against me, over the bitterness I faced in my denomination, and
over the misunderstandings in my own family. But let me say, there is
no joy like the joy of a soul winner working in the power of the Spirit.

   WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

   I use to equate the fullness of the Spirit with speaking in tongues.
But I didn't speak with tongues that night at First Baptist Church. I
simply and desperately claimed God's promise. I was taught that if you
didn't speak with tongues you weren't filled with the Spirit. I find it
hard to say that Moody, Finney, Torrey, Rice, Hyles, and others of the
world's greatest soul winners were not filled with the Spirit. I
remember the evidence which Jesus promised to those who would be filled
with the Spirit: "But ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost is
come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and
in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth." Power to witness is what He promises and that is what we should
expect.

   Someone will ask, "What about tongues?" 1 Corinthians 14:19 says,
"Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding,
that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in
an unknown tongue."

   1 Corinthians 12:28 indicates that tongues is the least of the
ministries in the church. Why should we elevate it to such prominence?
The carnal church at Corinth exalted speaking in tongues to the point
that Paul had to rebuke them because they loved to show off and "speak
into the air" 1 Corinthians 14:9.

   Paul asks a series of questions in 1 Corinthians 12:29-30 to which
the implied answers are "No!" One of these questions to which the
answer is "No" is, "Do all speak with tongues?" Why should we try to
say that all do speak with tongues when filled with the Spirit? Why
should we belittle those who don't speak with tongues? Why don't we
seek power to win souls?

   Why not let the Holy Spirit be the baptizer and do it His way rather
than our trying to tell him how it should be done. Why not be filled
again and again? We receive of His Spirit at salvation or we are none
of His, but He should fill or control us day by day (Acts 4:31). Let's
seek to be endued with power to win souls. Let's not tell God how to do
it or what must accompany this power. Let us ask and believe that we
receive and we shall have what God has promised. Let us not accept a
cheap 20th Century counterfeit of the New Testament enduement with
power to witness.

   8 REASONS WHY I CHOSE NOT TO BE A CHARISMATIC

   To conclude, let me summarize my reason for choosing not to be a
charismatic.

   1. I see what seems to me to be too much compromise of doctrine and
standards by charismatics in order that they might achieve acceptance
in the religious community.

   2. I am convinced that many charismatics speak psychologically-
induced tongues rather than Spirit empowered tongues and some may even
speak in tongues by the power of the devil.

   3. I am sickened by the foolishness that goes on under the pretense
that it is the moving of the Holy Spirit.

   4. I have observed that many sincere people who are hungry for God's
best are mislead into accepting poor substitutes for the fullness of
the Spirit.

   5. I see a blindness that seems to prevail among charismatics about
the importance of separation from worldliness.

   6. I find a mindless ecumenism that brings believers and unbelievers
together in an unequal yoke and makes speaking in tongues the basis for
fellowship.

   7. I find a reluctance of charismatics to contend for the faith once
delivered unto the saints. It seems that since this is not popular,
charismatics neglect such Scriptural defense of the faith and act as
though doctrinal purity is of little importance.

   8. It seems that charismatics find it easy to ignore certain
portions of Scripture when those portions are inconvenient to follow.
For example: the complete disregard for 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 relative to
taking your brother to court.

   My humble prayer is that many who are taken up with 'charismania'
will read this booklet and rethink their position and find the teaching
and practices the New Testament Christians followed.

   I feel compelled to say a further word. My family, for the most
part, is either traditional Pentecostals or charismatics. Now, I am
neither. To me the word "Pentecostal" means "Those that believe that
speaking in tongues is of such importance as to make it a main
doctrinal distinction." They believe that Biblical tongues are of two
kinds: known languages and ecstatic utterances. Pentecostals believe
that speaking in tongues is the evidence of baptism of the Holy Spirit
and some Pentecostals make tongues the evidence of salvation. I am not
a Pentecostal then for I believe none of that.

   I do not believe that tongues is of such major importance as to make
that doctrinal distinction of our church. I do not believe that
Biblical tongues are ecstatic utterances but known languages imparted
supernaturally by the Holy Spirit. I believe that power to win souls -
not tongues - is the evidence of the fullness of the Spirit. I
certainly do not believe that speaking in tongues is the evidence of
salvation.

   A charismatic is one who stresses the gifts of the Spirit,
especially the gift of tongues. The Charismatic Movement is the most
effective arm of the ecumenical movement. Charismatics seem to make
speaking in tongues the basis for fellowship rather than making
salvation the common grounds on which Christians meet.

   I have already stated my position on the Charismatic position. but
where does this put me with my family. I love them. They love me. We do
not jawbone each other over these matters. I thank God for Godly
parents who taught me to love the Lord and to trust in His gracious
supply. My father has been spared by God's gracious hand through cancer
and five heart attacks to continue to preach salvation by grace through
faith. In that I rejoice.

   OUR GOSPEL IS AS SIMPLE AS - ABC

   A. Admit you're a sinner ("All have sinned..." Romans 3:23) and
accept Gods ONLY ANTIDOTE for sin - faith in the innocent shed blood of
His only begotten Son, Jesus.

   B. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that "He became sin for
us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
through faith in him." 2 Corinthians 5:21. Also John 3:16.

   C. Confess your sin and call on the name of the Lord for salvation,
for whosoever does (this includes YOU) shall be saved. Romans 10:13.
(Read Romans 8:1 & Ephesians 4:30 for spiritual security).

   Now give the Master charge of your life by praying this prayer:
"Thank you Jesus, for dying for me. I'm sorry I sinned. Please forgive
me and save my soul. Help me live for you. Amen."

   This article originated on The Salvation Online Network
