A Critical Response to Counterfeit Christianity

Version française (au cours de construction)

Confusion is being sown in the Church of Jesus Christ. We ourselves, in our haste to meet publishers' deadlines, or in our haste to correct others and prove ourselves right, fail each other by passing on gossip, or by inaccurately reporting what God has said and done. There is no hope for you, dear reader, until you yourself take the Word of God into your hand, and become more familiar with it than with any other thing. We must begin to utter the Word to one another, not in argument, but in encouragement. As we begin to seek Jesus, our silly differences will fade in the light of His wonderful splendor. These pages seek to answer biblically and honestly objections made to outward manifestations witnessed in churches. These are no substitute for the Truth found only in the Christian Bible. Read, then with this in mind: The author has already been forced to change what he had innaccurately reported, once better information was provided. This, therefore, is but one man's limited opinion of what God is doing on the earth. Take it as opinion, and seek God's perspective above all.

These pages are not intended for those critics of the Revival who do not want to know the truth. Self-appointed policemen, they have decided to obey a gospel of experience-over-scripture, and accuse those who have been blessed of doing just that. This is a scriptural analysis of their criticism, a response to their criticism, and...as a result of your input, a response to the doubt that has been sown.

I am not going to try to explain excesses. In every revival there are some. I don't know personally the pastors involved. I simply know what I've seen in scriptures, and what I've learned to expect by reading them. What is happening is exactly what was foretold by the prophet Joel!

There are many who should read the pages linked here. There are many who should not. Let me illustrate, by way of a gif (graphics lingo for picture) I found one day:

It is written in Luke 5:36-39, "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine , immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.' " (NKJ)(The word "wine" here is added. It is not in the original Greek.)

Denomination is not evil. It is a wineskin. It holds and contains the fermenting blood of the grape. Neither should it be criticized by the older, long fermented vintage. It may surpass the vintage in quality.

This fact is illustrated brilliantly by Pierre Cranga in his book La Maison du Vin Nouveau (The House of the New Wine). Being a French pastor, Pierre has insights into wine and viticulture that other cultures do not have. He tells this story that I've embellished only slightly for the sake of the English speakers:

• Two guests were invited to a dinner. As was customary, both brought a gift for the host. The first brought a vintage red, twenty years old. The other brought two bottles of wine harvested that year from neighboring vines. During the feast, the host celebrated the gift of the first, recognizing its age and origin. The second gift was served, almost derisively as an apperitif before the meal. As the two guests returned home that night, the first turned, somewhat embarrassed to the second and said, "You should not be troubled, my friend, by the hosts reaction to your gift. He knows good wine."

  "I thought so too, " returned the second. "But then, how could he open my wine like that? You yourself know, you brought him the product of a mediocre year in a decade of mediocrity. Quite inexpensive, in point of fact. But this year was the greatest year for grapes that France has ever known. Why, the wine I brought him, in twenty years, would have been worth millions! Yet he poured it out as if it had no more value than water."

To mix a metaphor only slightly, but to issue a caveat concerning judging others from the outside appearance, let me quote a pillar of the Christian faith of the twentieth century, who for over sixty years preached the gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ:

• Chaff is not sin. Chaff is chaff. You cannot have wheat without the chaff. Chaff serves its purpose until the grain reaches full maturity. but its destiny is still the fire.

  David Duplessis

May God in His mercy preserve us from merely criticizing the chaff!

Who should read these pages?

(and who shouldn't?)

You should read these pages if:

• You have misgivings concerning the current manifestations and you want to weigh the opinion of a proponent.
• You are seeking the truth concerning the matter.
• You have read Hank Hanegraaff's book Counterfeit Revival or Christianity in Crisis and you are surprised to see such a swirl of controversy over a movement that has blessed you so richly.
• You are neither a mind-numbed robot nor an easily hypnotized, highly suggestible, weak-willed devotee of some pernicious cult teaching, and yet you enjoy listening to Rodney Howard-Browne, and find his teaching enlightening and scripture-filled.
• The outward manifestations bother you, but you're willing to relax if reason can be found in the scriptures that such goings on are not unbiblical.

You really do not need to read these pages if:

• Your opinion of the revival, based solely on the outward manifestations, is negative and not about to change. (Why waste your time? You already know.)
• Your opinion of the revival, based solely on what others have told you and on what others have written, is negative and not about to change. (Hank Hanegraaff has more credibility than the author of these pages.)
• You believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are not for today, and anyone who believes they are for today is deceived. (Any discussion of the gifts in operation today would just anger you and prove how right you are in your own eyes.)

In all seriousness, Hank Hanegraaff's web page might prove more interesting for you. There, you will find a month of radio broadcasts archived for your edification.

Table of Contents

Read Pastor Pete's blog at the River's edge

Find out about the author of these pages

Read a play that illustrates the difficulty of understanding this discussionLatest update 8/16/2000

Read about the revival

Read about the criticism Major correction in last update 11/2/97

What does the Bible really say?

To criticize the revival, to ask questions, to seek answers, this is not a blasphemous or damnable endeavor. But to pretend that you know what God is doing in the lives of untold millions, to disdain the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of countless thousands, to attribute to hypnosis and suggestibility the powerful work of repentence and cleansing and to publish your claims, this is to despise the Hand of God and to hate the Blood that bought us. You are not criticizing the revival .You are passing judgment. You are not asking questions. You are answering them. You are not seeking answers, you are diverting the attention of true seekers from the path of Truth. This is no longer warm and open discussion of doctrine. Instead it is an attempt to make the least of these to stumble. Let the reader beware.

Copyright © 1997 - Peter L. Mehegan- All Rights Reserved This page contains personal opinion and commentary. We reserve the right to have our own opinions and the right to state them publicly. We believe that the Constitution of the U. S. gives us this right. Last Updated 8/16/2000

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