June 28, 2004 - The PEFM and Bankrupt Theology

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The PEFM and Bankrupt Theology
By John Charrier
June 28, 2004

Twenty years ago I identified a part of the human anatomy unique to those of us in the Apostolic tradition. It’s that look of concentration, the furrowed brow, and the painful expression that is so often seen on the faces of Pentecostals during worship. I call it the Pentecostal facial muscle—the pefm for short. Thirty-seven years of observing Pentecostal life firsthand in these United States and video footage of Pentecostals around the world makes plain that the pefm is prevalent everywhere in our movement.

This has profound implications. The pefm stems from our low view of scripture, a connected low view of Him who died to save us, and most certainly a connected profound misunderstanding of the nature of our God. Although some might assert otherwise, these statements comprise theological issues, and if my assertions are accurate our movement is theologically bankrupt.¹

A Low View of Scripture
We Apostolics loudly claim the inerrancy of scripture. In practice, however, we often place a low value on scripture. This is shown by the lack of emphasis from our pulpits on devotional Bible study, a corresponding absence among us, lay and clergy alike, of any serious devotional life, the wide-spread refusal of our clergy to let scripture speak for itself, and the elevation of prayer and fasting as the most valuable disciplines of the Christian life. We elevate prayer and fasting in this way at our own peril. To be sure the New Testament has a great deal to say about prayer; it has little to say about fasting.² Jesus and the New Testament writers, it can be fairly said, elevated scripture, perhaps, even above prayer. Some examples:

■ “Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock” (Matthew 7:24)— Jesus, closing the Sermon on the Mount, Christianity’s Magna Carta.

■ “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away” (Mark 13:31)—Jesus promising His intimates that they could stake their safety at the end of the age on the certainty of His word.

■ “But he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it” (Luke 11:28)— Jesus making plain that the greatest blessing stems from keeping His word.

■ “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, if ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32)— Jesus making plain where true discipleship and freedom lies.

■ “For whatsoever things were written aforetimes were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4)—Paul explaining that the scriptures achieve hope.

Because we devalue scripture, we have fallen into theological error. We, thus, fail to order our lives by scripture and we resist the cleansing or pruning effect which Jesus said would result (John 15:3) if we would abide in the vine.

A Corresponding Low View of Jesus, The Christ
Our low view of scripture results in a corresponding low view of Jesus, the Christ. We serve, not the God revealed in the New Testament, but a cultural Christ—we see Him either as a God who must be appeased or as one that supplies whatever we want. The former is shown by our fear to enter His presence freely and there worship with abandon; the latter is best seen by the repeated encouragement of those who lead us to “get what you need from God.” Both denigrate our God who has revealed Himself as Jesus, the Christ.

To take these low views of Him, who after all died to save us and lives in us to secure our victory (Romans 5:10), is to diminish the glory which is rightfully His (I Corinthians 1:31). Because we don’t value the scriptural record of Him, we fail to value Him. Of Himself, He said,

1. “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48).
2. “I am the water of life” (John 4:14).
3. “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12, 9:5).
4. “Before Abraham was I Am” (John 8:58).
5. “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11).
6. “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).
7. “I am the way, the truth, the life” (John 14:6)
8. “I am the true vine” (John 15:1)
9. “I am alive forevermore.” (Revelation 1:18)

In making these claims, I believe Jesus (1) swept the field displacing all impostor gods; (2) filled the field for the Christian by providing in Himself all that pertains to life and godliness; (3) thus claimed for Himself the right to all the glory. Paul most certainly understood Jesus, saying to the Romans, “For of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36).³

A Resulting Misunderstanding of the Nature of Our God
A. W. Tozer, not an Apostolic but a keen observer of evangelical Christian life, said “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us ... Worship is pure or base as the worshipper entertains high or low thoughts of God.”⁴ I believe we Apostolics have not thought rightly about God. Instead, in our cavalier treatment of scripture, we have tacitly rewritten it to create a God wholly distinct from the God who has revealed Himself in the New Testament.

The ways in which we have done this are too many to exhaust in this brief essay, therefore I will identify three.

■ We have taught that the key to Christian victory is to die daily—This oft-repeated admonition is unscriptural, unworkable, and dishonors and misunderstands the God who died to save us. The means our Savior chose to secure victory for us was to include us in His own death on the cross (Romans 6:6; II Corinthians 5:14; Colossians 3:3). In so doing, at once He defeated Satan at His own game, secured the victory for us, and preserved intact His right to all the glory. Our victory is this: when He died at Calvary, we died with Him. Such a God and Savior deserves all the praise and I praise Him.

The suggestion that we ought to die daily is based on words cherry-picked from a difficult passage of scripture (I Corinthians 15:29-32) which formed part of Paul’s defense of the hope of the resurrection: daily Paul said he was placed in peril on behalf of the church but, no matter, he had the hope of the resurrection. It also was Paul who asserted (Romans 7) that the proposition of dying daily was unworkable. Thus, to insist that the Christian must die daily (1) cuts the legs off of the good news; (2) diminishes the glory to which God and our Father is entitled; (3) misunderstands the means by which He saves us to the uttermost.

■ Our overweening belief that asceticism is the path to peace with God— Although we may assert otherwise, we do teach, “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!” This despite clear scripture which identifies these things (1) to be mere human commands; (2) to have only the appearance (and not the reality) of wisdom; (3) to evidence false humility, and: (4) to lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence (Colossians 2:20-23). Just as many pagans, we, therefore, buy into asceticism believing that it justifies us before our Savior. In doing that, we deny a God (1) who provides all things for us to richly enjoy (I Timothy 6:17); (2) who in His grace provides the means for us to transcend the world (I Corinthians. 7:29-31), and; (3) who in doing both, thereby keeps open His claim to all the glory.

■ We Apostolics have an inadequate understanding of God as our father—In the Old Testament, the role of God as father is shadowy at best, but in the New, Jesus fully fleshes out the point. Jesus said no father, much less the eternal father, would give a stone to his son on his request for bread (Matthew 7:9-11). Jesus, in parable, asserted He was the father who would receive the prodigal son with great joy even when He smelled of slop and had wasted his inheritance (Luke 15:11-32). Jesus told us, too, that the father would have us avoid long and repetitive prayers because He knows for what we ask even before we make our requests (Matthew 6:7-8).⁵

So it is fair to say that Jesus went to great lengths to establish that the believer should see God as His father with all that fatherhood entails. Here, too, Paul so understood Jesus. This follows from Paul’s assertion that the spirit provokes us to call God by the familiar “dad” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). It also follows from the focus of Paul’s prayers for the first Apostolic churches: he prayed that they might have a more complete knowledge, even revelation, of the Lord Jesus Christ and what God wrought in Christ (Ephesians 1:16-23, 3:16-19; Colossians 1:9-12). We would do well to accept God’s gift of fatherhood with joyful and worshipful hearts.

The PEFM Unraveled
Here our bankrupt theology comes home to roost. In worship our faces display what we think about God our Savior. Sadly, the low view of Jesus we have been taught colors our worship so that there is no upward gaze of our hearts. Instead, our gaze is horizontal and our faces display a look of concentration. Because we do not feel like we want to feel and we are not getting what we want from God, we concentrate believing concentration will bring God closer to us. It will not (Romans 10:6-11). The look of concentration thus proves our focus in worship is not on Him but on ourselves. I, therefore, believe such “worship” is Apostolic narcissism and proves our bankrupt theology.

Lest some assert that I overstate the connection between the pefm, worship, and theology, permit me an illustration. Common to most of our experience is waiting in an airport terminal and whiling away the time in people watching. Many of us believe ourselves expert in identifying the proud, the self-absorbed, the fearful, the confused, the angry, the sad, and the happy, just by looking at faces. Expert or not, one situation is unmistakable, children meeting a deplaning mom or dad. We smile and our hearts are warmed as the waiting children break into joyful smiles and hugs are shared all around. Their faces tell the story. Perhaps there are furrowed brows, uncertain looks, frowns, and no smiles. These faces also tell the story.

I rest my case. I also point you to Him: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen. (Rom. 16:24-27, NASB).

ninetyandnine.com

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John Charrier is a trial lawyer, a lover of the Word, and a lover of Him who is the Word. He would rather sit under an oak in a pasture and reflect than travel the world.

Footnotes
1. One must distinguish between doctrine and theology. I make no claims about the former. For reasons which will appear, I make clear claims about what passes for theology among us.

2. If one wishes to advert to the Old Testament to craft a doctrine on fasting, then one ought to pay close attention to Isaiah 58.

3. Paul said the same thing at more length in his epistle to the Colossians. May I challenge the reader to read Colossians “theologically” and not doctrinally.

4. A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, (San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers, 1961), p. 1.

5. I suggest the reader explore New Testament theology on the fatherhood of God in Nave’s Topical Bible under the subject “God, Fatherhood Of”. Nave’s is available on the web at www.crosswalk.com.