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JOHN WIMBER RESPONDS TO PHENOMENA
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The following is an excerpt taken from a letter by John Wimber
responding to questions regarding some of the phenomena experienced in
recent Vineyard meetings:


My views as to the issue of "roaring" under the anointing:
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A.  I would say that there is no biblical or theological framework for
such phenomena.  I don't see anywhere in the New Testament where Jesus
and / or the apostles encouraged such phenomena or encountered such
phenomena.  Therefore, I think these kinds of things have to be put in
a category of"non-biblical" and "exotic."

B.  However, there have been some revival reports in church tradition
where people have made various and sundry "animal noises" (or noise;
that could labeled as such, though I doubt making animal sounds was
the intent of the people).  For instance, at the Cane Ridge Revival in
Kentucky during the Second Great Awakening, there were a number of
people that did so.

Furthermore, I understand that Charles Finney had some sort of
experience where he made a kind of "roaring noise," although I don't
think he, in retrospect, equated it with a lion.  He did equate it,
however, with an anointing from God that transformed his life and
ministry.

C. I've had, to date, seven or eight testimonies from people who have
"roared."  Here are the conclusions they drew from the experience:

   1. There was a sense of God's indignation at the state of the church
   and the impact of the enemy's presence in the church.  As a
   consequence, people responded with a "prophetic roar," which was sort
   of an "announcement" of God's intention to take back territory.

   2. Furthermore, it seemed to affirm the issue of the Lord's authority
   in their lives and ministries, and as a consequence they've been very
   excited about the potential for more powerful ministry in the future.

   3. It seems to me that nearly all of them have equated this with some
   sort of prophetic experience, either personal anointing for prophecy
   and/or prophetic in the sense that God is saying to the church, "Rise
   up, and take back the land / people / things that the enemy has one
   way or another wrongfully usurped control of.

D. However, having said that, I must point out that there is some
disagreement in our circles here in the Vineyard.

   1. There are those that are very enthusiastic endorsers of the
   experience and I think are, as a consequence, even encouraging others
   in this kind of experience.  I strongly feel that it is excessive to
   do so, in that again I know of no biblical mandate for encouraging
   anyone to "roar."

   However; based on the rubric of "bless what the Father's doing," I
   suppose, if I were in a ministry context and somebody started
   "roaring," I would bless what I thought the Father was doing,
   regardless of the "roaring" or any other manifestation.  Keep in mind,
   however, we do not equate!ate phenomena with God; we see these usually
   as human responses to God.

   2. On the other hand, there are people who sharply disagree with the
   notion that anything such as this kind of phenomena could be perceived
   to be something of God, and would quickly point out that there's
   no biblical support for equating the experience with God, and I would
   have to agree that this, indeed, has to be viewed as an exotic and
   non-biblically endorsed experience;

   Having said that, I do not, personally, hold the opinion that this is
   "demonic" and / or necessarily "divine."  I put this in the category
   of "pondering / I don't know."  I am looking for, in the aftermath,
   the affects of the experience to see how it relates to the person's
   life. If we see fruit (i.e. Mt. 7:15ff, I Cor. 14, Acts 5:33ff, I
   Jn. 4:1-3), then I suppose I would accept the notion that, if the
   people who have had the experience are advancing, perhaps it was
   something from God.



In light of all the above, here my are my views on "phenomena":
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A. I cannot endorse or even encourage this experience in our movement
and ministry, but at the same time I recognize that it is happening
and I would just leave it in the same category as I have of people
shaking, or falling or having other kinds of exotic phenomena that may
have some limited biblical representation.  Therefore, this is not
necessarily anything that we ought to equate as "always" something of
God, or even "sometimes" something of God, though it may be a reaction
to the Spirit's activity. I think that we ought to endorse and
encourage the "main and the plain things" of scripture:
i.e. salvation, sanctification, justification by faith and the
consequent experiences of such, where people would have testimonies of
how they are advancing in their initial relationship with God and then
moving on in progression with God.

B.  I feel that it's very important that we direct this "refreshing"
and "enabling" move of the Spirit to the New Testament works of the
church, that is to say, having been refreshed, we now must channel
these people into work that would express that refreshing in solid,
biblical context.  That is to say that they should be encouraged to
begin interceding, sharing their faith in an evangelistic context:
they should be feeding the hungry, ministering to the poor, the widow,
the divorcee, etc., etc.  I believe that if we channel this energy
away from a "bless me" kind of focus to a "bless them" kind of focus
we will indeed be utilizing this fresh anointing in a biblically
appropriate fashion.

Finally, I want to close by saying this. I feel that the exuberant and
initial response of many in this area is well taken, and I'm happy for
their testimonies.  I just don't want to make our meetings a focus on
"phenomena." I would like to make our meetings focused on the Word and
works of the Spirit.

Now, having said all that, I recognize that there are certain
manifestations of the Spirit that have gone on in our meetings for
fifteen years that we supposed were demonic in origin.  And there have
been times in the past where we've attempted to cast demons out of
people who made "animal noises."  On some occasions demons manifested
and we did cast them out and on other occasions we were puzzled by the
lack of deliverance.

Therefore, I think in the past we've had a simplistic view of all of
these kinds of things.  These new phenomena and their apparent "fruit"
have been a circumstance that has caused me to stop and think and
review again, my presuppositions as they relate to this all.

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