Monthly Archives: February 2012

Pentecostal Sacraments: A Review from Brother Jeffrey Gros

Posted by on February 28, 2012 No comments

Bro. Jeffrey Gros, FSC. President, Society for Pentecostal Studies; Dean, Catholic Institute for Ecumenical Leadership

The Pentecostal and liturgical movements are among the most important transformative renewal events of the 20th century. For the most part, their mutual influence has been marginal and minimal, with Pentecostals seeking to restore biblical worship devoid of dead ritualism, and the liturgical movement drawing first on the ancient patristic heritage and more recently on the rich cultural diversity of the Church catholic. This volume will be welcome addition to the emerging literature that seeks to discern the Spirit in both and their mutual enrichment.

The Pentecostal community inherited an “ordinance” approach to the dominical two sacraments in the evangelical Protestant canon, many adding foot washing. This author treats these three, adding anointing and baptism in the Holy Spirit, which those familiar with the sacramental heritage in theology and the liturgical practice of the classical Pentecostal churches will immediately recognize. These are included in this Pentecostal theological treatment, if not yet to the ecumenical canon of sacramental thinking. In the context of foot washing the author treats confession, reconciliation and ministry, all important sacramental rites in the wider ecumenical discussion.

Read more »

Pentecostals, Tradition, and Hermenuetics

Posted by on February 28, 2012 No comments

This article is an excerpt from PENTECOSTAL SACRAMENTS.

From their earliest days, Pentecostals have been committed to the study of Scripture. It was in the study of God’s Word they found validation for the Holy Spirit’s outpouring they were experiencing. For many early Pentecostals, it was this single-minded devotion to Scripture that assured a latter-day restoration of the New Testament church. Therefore, the Spirit-renewed church would be “the church of the Bible.” As the church of the Bible, the Spirit renewed church should reflect the life, doctrine, and polity of the apostolic church. Pentecostals justified their faith and practice by the Bible. Speaking in tongues was the initial evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit because it was “the Bible evidence.” Converts were to receive water baptism; believers were to partake of the Lord’s Supper and wash the saints’ feet; church members were to practice tithing; the sick were to be prayed for and receive divine healing—all because“it’s in the Bible.”

Read more »

A Witness to Unity

Posted by on February 26, 2012 No comments

The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Witness; “For,” they said, “it is a witness between us that the Lord is God” (Joshua 22:34).

After the partial conquest of Canaan, Joshua began to assign territories of inheritance to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. The people of these tribes were faithful to the covenant of Moses; they were obedient to the commands of Joshua; and they maintained the solidarity of the community. Because of their faithfulness, they now entered into the rest of the Lord. The territory of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh was on the east side of the Jordan River. The territories of the other tribes were on the west side of the Jordan. The Jordan formed a natural boundary that separated the tribes of Israel. After settling on the east side of the Jordan River, these three tribes built “a large altar” by the Jordan (Joshua 22:10). The western tribes were suspicious of the meaning of the altar. It could have signified a return to idolatrous practices. If this was the case, the whole nation would suffer because of the sins of a few. When the other tribes of Israel saw the altar they took offense and threatened civil war (Joshua 22:12, 15-16). However, the altar at the Jordan River was not a monument to idolatry. The altar was constructed as a memorial to remind the future generations that they shared a common redemptive heritage, a common covenant, and a common future with their cousins to the west. The altar was named Witness. Its purpose was to be a symbol of the unity of the covenant community.

Read more »

Forty Days with God

Posted by on February 23, 2012 No comments

A message for Lent

The Lenten season lasts forty days, beginning with Ash Wednesday. Forty is a number that is deeply rooted in the biblical tradition. For forty days and nights as the rains fell upon the earth, the future of humanity, and of all life on the earth, was protected within the confines of the ark of Noah. The inhabitants of the ark remained for forty more days as they waited for the flood waters to recede. Moses spent forty years of his life as a shepherd in the wilderness, a fugitive, separated from all he knew as one who had been raised in the home of the Egyptian pharaoh. Later, he spent forty days on Mt. Sinai in the presence of God. The liberated Hebrews wandered in the wilderness for forty years, following the fiery cloud. Elijah spent forty days fasting on Mt. Horeb, a faithful prophet who was being persecuted by an evil king and queen. Both Moses and Elijah spent forty days on the mountain of God in prayer and fasting.

Read more »

Sound an Alarm!

Posted by on February 21, 2012 1 comment

Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the Lord is coming; Surely it is near… (Joel 2:1).

While preaching to American soldiers in Bataan during World War II, U. S. Army chaplain W. T. Cummings said, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” His point to those young soldiers was that when we are faced with the certainty of dying, then the certainty of God becomes more real.

We are a nation at war. We have enemies in the world that seek our destruction. Also, America is a nation at war with itself. The most basic institutions of our society are being challenged. The scriptures teach us that civil government is ordained of God and its purpose is to establish justice and righteousness within society (Romans 13). However, many believe that our government fails miserably in upholding justice and the concept of righteousness completely eludes our leaders. There is brewing in our nation today much discontent among law abiding citizens. The popular sport of the day is the character assignation of our political leaders. There is a spirit of rebellion in the land.

Read more »

The Gospel according to Elvis and Whitney

Posted by on February 18, 2012 3 comments

My favorite gospel music is that of Elvis Presley. From his majestic rendition of How Great Thou Art to Let Us Pray, the final song of his last movie, I love the hear Elvis sing songs of inspiration and faith. His musical style was born in his Pentecostal faith and married to the Blues music of Memphis. In fact, I enjoy all of his music, from Teddy Bear to In the Ghetto. When Elvis died I mourned his loss, but found myself wondering, “How can a man with his gift to sing sacred music and reared in Pentecostal church live and die like he did?”

Last week as I learned of the death of Whitney Houston, again I found myself grieving the untimely death of a very gifted person who had apparently succumbed to her demons. I didn’t watch her funeral, but I have read many Facebook posts and blog entries trying to reconcile her tragic death with her Christian faith.

Read more »

The Bible – A Dangerous Weapon?

Posted by on February 12, 2012 1 comment

So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God (2 Peter 1:19-21).

In the 1980’s I attended a small Southern Baptist College. This was during the conflict between the conservatives and moderates (liberals?) about the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture. In our “Gospels” class, I remember telling a small group that the future debate would not be about verbal inspiration or inerrancy, but about hermeneutics. Thirty years later, that statement has proved to have been prophetic.

I often tell ministerial candidates that we must know what the Bible says and what it means. Each year in our Ministerial Internship Program I require our candidates to read a Civil War era pro-slavery article written by a southern Presbyterian minister. Then I ask, “Is slavery sinful?” and “Why?” This leads to a prolonged discussion about how to understand the Bible. Last year, during the discussion I polled the candidates by asking, “How many of you believe the Bible justifies slavery?” To my surprise, the majority agreed. They believed that the Bible justifies slavery because they hold to a simplistic literalist hermeneutic: “The Bible says it; I believe it; that settles it!” I have many objections with this way of reading the Bible, not the least of which is that it means that we don’t have to think.

Read more »

God’s Mission to the Nations

Posted by on February 5, 2012 1 comment

Break forth, shout joyfully together, You waste places of Jerusalem; For the Lord has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared His holy arm in the sight of all the nations, That all the ends of the earth may see The salvation of our God (Isaiah 52:9-10).

The prophets of ancient Israel declared that Yahweh is the One who fills the earth with the glory of His presence (Isaiah 6:3). The prophets were theologians par excellence and their theological expectations are fulfilled in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here selected passages are interpreted via a Trinitarian model to demonstrate how the prophetic writings reveal God’s mission to rule all the nations of the earth.

The Universal Dominion of Yahweh

Yahweh is not a parochial deity whose dominion is limited to the geographical borders of national Israel or whose influence is limited to the Temple in Jerusalem. Isaiah’s throne vision of Yahweh (Isaiah 6:1ff) serves as the inauguration of his prophetic ministry and as an introduction to the canonical prophets. In this vision, Yahweh is presented as the Sovereign King of the universe, whose glory fills the earth (Isaiah 6:3; also 40:5). The “glory” of Yahweh speaks of his presence, influence, and power.

Read more »