But much of the West is silent as believers are brutally tortured.

Post-war pop culture and the Church.

We continue our serialisation of ‘Blessing the Church?’, previous instalments of which can now be found here. After last week’s outline of the dramatic social and cultural changes in the West that followed the end of World War II, Dr Clifford Hill now looks at key characteristics of these changes and the impact these had on the Church.

CHARACTERISTICS OF POP CULTURE

Youth-Dominated

Pop culture was essentially a youth culture which rejected the old, the outworn and the outdated. The emphasis was upon a search for new things and the discarding of the old. It was a culture from which, in the early days, the elderly felt shut out and devalued. Even in such things as clothing, the elderly felt disadvantaged as the consumer-driven market sought to satisfy the demands of the young.

The development of new technology in the brave new world emerging after the devastation of World War II reinforced the adulation of new things and led to the development of what was seen as 'the throwaway society'.

On the positive side, the period of reconstruction after the war needed the vitality and creativity of youth. It needed fresh energy, new ideas, unhindered by the failed policies of the past which had dragged the world into two devastating wars in the first half of the century. But the adoption of new ideas needed to be guided by firmly-rooted principles, if confusion and chaos were to be avoided.

Anti-Tradition

Any new movement contains an element of protest and rejection of the past. Pop culture was seeking to develop its own ideology and was therefore challenging traditional values. Inevitably the collected wisdom of the past was questioned as a whole new set of social mores applicable to the present day was sought.

Young people were quick to embrace new ideas and to say that the policies pursued by their fathers had only led the world into the horrors of war, culminating in the nuclear bomb devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The anti-nuclear campaigns of CND linked with the more positive campaigns of the peace movement which produced the 'flower people' and slogans such as 'Make love not war'.

The period of post-war reconstruction needed the vitality and creativity of youth, but this also needed to be guided by firmly-rooted principles if chaos was to be avoided.

On the negative side, it increased awareness of racial differences and stirred passions. The campaign for racial justice had both a negative and a positive side. Positively it affirmed the equality of all peoples regardless of race or colour while at the same time protesting against those traditions and institutions which debarred people on grounds of race, religion or ethnic origin.

The anti-traditionalism of pop culture led to a despising of traditional institutions and even, in extreme cases, to the rejection of professionalism and scholarship. An extreme example was the Cultural Revolution in Communist China which persecuted and degraded teachers, university lecturers and scholars, often parading them through the streets as an act of public humiliation.

In Britain there were not these extremes, but public attitudes towards the professions changed radically. Teachers were no longer held in high esteem, neither were the clergy or any of those who served the public.

Individualism

The worldwide liberation movement of the post-war era spilled over into pop culture, not only in politically-orientated protest movements but also in positive campaigns to alleviate suffering and to serve the world's poor and hungry.

The 'Freedom from Hunger' campaign of the 1960s, the Oxford Campaign for Famine Relief (which became Oxfam) and numerous others all reflected the growing concern of the new generation for freedom, equality and justice. These social values were part of the growing recognition of the worth of each individual and the sanctity of human life. In emphasising these values, pop culture reacted against the wanton sacrifice of life in two world wars. It was also a reaction against what was seen as the oppression the ruling classes exercised over the world's poor and powerless peoples.

This recognition of the worth of each individual had its down side. What began as the pursuit of justice rapidly became a demand for rights. It was rights, not privileges, that changed attitudes towards the Welfare State in Britain. Instead of enjoying the privilege of living in a society where the needs of each individual were cared for by the whole community, these benefits were soon taken for granted.

The younger generation knew nothing of the privations endured by former generations. Instead of thankfulness for the peace and security now enjoyed, the prevailing mood became a determination to obtain the maximum benefits available to each individual. Inner-city areas saw the rise of campaigns for community rights. 'Claimants Unions' sprang up in the 1970s to ensure that individuals were able to claim all their rights and entitlements from the State.

The anti-traditionalism of pop culture led to a despising of traditional values, social mores and institutions.

The campaigns for racial justice and justice for women soon produced minority group rights: feminist campaigns, the gay rights movement and the pro-abortion lobby with the campaign slogan 'A woman's right to choose'. These movements were fundamentally anti-social, in that they contributed towards the breakdown of traditional family life and the downgrading of marriage. They were driven by a destructive spirit in which the only thing that mattered was the philosophy of individualism, in which personal morality and personal relationships are largely determined by the rights, desires and demands of the individual.

The same determinants have played a creative role in the social values emerging from pop culture. They are essentially anti-social and dysfunctional rather than creative of a healthy society. Their end product is the dissolution of society. The underlying lesson is that ethical nihilism leads to social nihilism. Moral anarchy leads to social anarchy.

Personal Involvement

The post-war era of reconstruction that gave rise to pop culture was an age of activity. Pop culture reflected this with all the dynamism of youth. They wanted to get involved personally in the radical changes that were already beginning to move from theory to practical reality by the beginning of the 1960s. Pop culture encouraged young people to get involved in their community, to take to the streets and demonstrate, to take their protests to the town hall or to turn the student union debate into days of action for better grants and living conditions.

The negative anti-professionalism of pop culture also included a strong positive element of personal involvement in every kind of activity. It was the age of DIY. Do-it-yourself in home improvement resulted in an enormous industry of tools and provision for the amateur builder. DIY extended to every kind of activity, from making your own music to arranging your own house conveyancing. DIY in education gave rise to the Open University, while DIY in sport and entertainment resulted in a boom in a wide variety of sporting activity, from athletics and field sports to aerobics and keep fit, to climbing and hang-gliding.

Pop culture initiated what was essentially the day of the amateur. Personal involvement plus lots of help from commercial products enabled the amateur to produce results every bit as good as the professional.

Sensuousness

Pop culture rapidly swept away the old Victorian taboos on sex and the expression of emotions. It became a new age of freedom where the emphasis upon individual rights and personal involvement encouraged the exhibition rather than the suppression of the emotions. This was considered psychologically healthy.

The ‘Dr Spock’ generation of demand-fed babies and undisciplined children became the pop culture teenagers: the teeny-boppers who screamed wildly at their pop idols and lost themselves in waves of emotion at rock concerts and gigs. These activities paved the way for the drug-related rave parties of the 1990s.

Pop culture gave rise to a new age of sexual freedom aided by birth control and abortion. Sex education in schools followed the repeal of censorship in the entertainments industry, allowing explicit sexual scenes on TV, film and video, as well as in books and magazines.

As the moral mores of the nations fell apart, so the media's reporting of scandals, details of violence and explicit sex became more lurid, both stimulating and feeding the appetite for the sensuous. Inevitably, intimate media accounts of the lifestyles of pop stars encouraged young people to follow the activities of their idols and imitate their behaviour.

The lesson of post-war pop culture is that ethical nihilism leads to social nihilism. Moral anarchy leads to social anarchy.

Lawlessness

The radical change in the philosophy of education in the post-war era taught children not only to discover things for themselves, but also to question traditional values, leading to the questioning of authority, social norms and religious beliefs. The latter was aided and abetted by the popularisation of liberal theology through books such as Honest to God by John Robinson, the bishop who had defended the publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover, which broke new ground in explicitly sexual literature.

The old norms, moral precepts and social values, together with their foundational religious beliefs rooted in the Judeo-Christian faith, were rapidly crumbling. By the middle of the 1960s pop culture had become an unstoppable band-waggon rolling the nation into a social revolution, the end product of which only the exceptionally far-sighted could see.

The breakdown of moral absolutes left the field wide open for 'situation ethics' in which the rights and wrongs of every action for each individual would have to be sought within the prevailing situation and circumstances. This paved the way for increasing lawlessness, for the lowering of standards of professional conduct, and for radical changes in business ethics and the practices of corporate institutions. Thus the way was open for corruption in politics, industry and commerce leading inevitably to the increase of crime, drugs, family breakdown, child abuse, street violence and terrorism.

Pop culture was a child of revolt. It was born out of a spirit of rebellion, essentially a destructive rather than a creative spirit. Its anti-traditionalism was essentially the rejection of morality, of fundamental belief and of law. It was DIY in the rules of behaviour with a self-centred individualism that was essentially destructive of community. It was social anarchy and the inevitable result of anarchy is the destruction of society.

Power

The 20^th Century ushered in an age of powerlessness. Two world wars in the first half of the century swept millions of men and women from many nations into the horror of modern armed conflict. They had no option but to fight and even those who remained at home were mercilessly bombed in cities throughout Europe, powerless to defend themselves.

The post-war period of reconstruction saw thousands of inner-city communities destroyed as their homes were bulldozed and replaced by tower blocks. Others saw their homes destroyed to make way for motorways which they were powerless to resist.

As radical social changes were enforced by law, foundational social values began to crumble, moral principles were neglected, marriage breakdown increased, the stability of family life was undermined, crime rates soared and a general sense of powerlessness to withstand the onslaught of the forces of social change became widespread. The genie was out of the bottle and no-one had the power to put it back.

Pop culture was a child of revolt. It was born out of a spirit of rebellion, essentially a destructive rather than a creative spirit.

The economic boom years gave way to recession. Powerful commercial enterprises collapsed, bankruptcies increased, mortgage lenders foreclosed on the homes of defaulting house owners. The Englishman's castle was built on sand. People were powerless even to defend their homes.

The sense of powerlessness was increased by Europeanisation. Europe was swallowing up the little island which had fiercely maintained its freedom and independence against all invaders for a thousand years. Norman Tebbit summed it up when he said that the day would come when the 'Chancellor's budget speech would be faxed from Frankfurt'. The politicians, the Government, the Cabinet and the Prime Minister all began to share the sense of powerlessness to withstand the forces of change which were sweeping across the nation. Even the Queen had her 'annus horribilis', being powerless to defend her family from the adulterous and rebellious spirits of the age.

The Charismatic Movement

In the midst of these traumatic social changes and upheaval, a new phenomenon appeared within the Church: the charismatic movement. It did not arise in the immediate post-World War II period - in fact, it had no clear beginnings. There was no mighty outpouring of the Spirit of God as on the Day of Pentecost, no fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit as at the beginning of the Pentecostal movement at Azusa Street in 1906; there was no great revival, no clear move of God resulting in the conversion of multitudes of unbelievers.

Most charismatic leaders today trace the beginnings of the movement to the middle or late 1960s. But the first really recognisable signs of a movement did not occur until the early 1970s, when home-based fellowships or 'house churches' began to proliferate.

Whatever date we assign to the beginnings of the charismatic movement, it has to be acknowledged that pop culture was already a firmly established part of the social scene. The destructive effects of the spirit of rebellion could clearly be seen, biblical belief was under attack, traditional morality was in rapid decline, so too was church attendance. The Church, especially in inner-city areas, was in the full flight of retreat with a high closure rate of redundant church buildings, especially in areas of immigrant settlement.

It was against the background of spiritual atrophy and moribund institutionalism in the mainline churches that the charismatic movement emerged. It was born out of the womb of frustration with the status quo, rather than through a notable move of the Spirit of God.

A Genuine Move of God?

The charismatic movement came to birth at a time when the spirit of moral and social rebellion was triumphing in the battle with traditionalism in the secular world. This was the time when the most socially destructive Acts of Parliament were put on the Statute Book. It was a time when it seemed as though the whole nation was intent upon overturning past tradition and rejecting the social values and moral precepts of their forefathers. This was the spirit of the age in which the charismatic movement emerged and there is good evidence for the contention that many of the social characteristics of that period were birthed into it, the significance of which we are only now beginning to see.

We may go farther and ask the question, 'Was the charismatic movement a move of God? Was it actually initiated by the Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church?' It is not easy to give an unequivocal affirmative to that question due to its lack of a clear beginning and the fact that it was not rooted in the conviction of sin, repentance and revival.

The charismatic movement was born out of the womb of frustration with the status quo, rather than through a notable move of the Spirit of God.

There was not even a great wave of renewal sweeping through the Church or a 'holiness' movement characterised by self-denial, humility and self-sacrificial suffering with the major emphasis upon the cross. These are the characteristics of the present-day Church in China which has arisen out of the flames of persecution and martyrdom of the saints. In China there was no spectacular outpouring of the Spirit in any one place to mark the beginning of the period of great spiritual awakening now sweeping through that nation, but there were all the marks of authentic New Testament spirituality, including a willingness to die for the faith.

The charismatic movement, by contrast, had none of these marks and it is for this reason that we may fairly ask whether it was the creation of God or man. In fact, it bore many of the social characteristics of the Western nations in which it arose. It developed in an environment of easy affluence and it offered a form of spirituality which appealed strongly to the rising new middle classes seeking quick self-advancement and status in the new post-war social order.

Before offering an answer to the question of origins, we will look at the characteristics of the charismatic movement under the same headings as we used when looking at pop culture.

Next week: The charismatic movement as a child of pop culture.

First published in 1995, as part of chapter 2 of ‘Blessing the Church?’ (Eagle Publishing, pp10-39). Revised November 2017.

Charles Gardner reviews ‘Cuckoos in the Nest’ by Sam Gordon (2017, Ritchie Christian Media).

Bible teacher and author Sam Gordon is to be congratulated on his excellent new book, Cuckoos in the Nest (Ritchie Christian Media), which should set the cat among the proverbial pigeons!

A commentary on the brief yet much neglected epistle of Jude, it tackles apostasy in the Church – so prevalent these days as Christians increasingly succumb to intimidation from politically-correct secular humanism.

Test the Shepherds

As Sam points out, Jude was a man of great humility, imitating his Master who was actually his half-brother! Instead of pulling rank, he describes himself as “a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James”.

Jude had hoped to write about the salvation he shared with his readers, but felt compelled to address the much more urgent issue of how ungodly people had secretly slipped in among them to “pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign Lord”.

This is also what has been happening over the past 50 years, especially in light of recent decisions to approve same-sex marriage and deny the Bible’s authority.

As Jesus’ half-brother, Jude doesn’t pull rank but describes himself as a servant of Christ.

With his straightforward yet colourful language, Sam challenges the modern Church to test whether they are being led astray by “shepherds who feed only themselves…clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted – twice dead”.

He emphasises personal responsibility for keeping ourselves in God’s love by building ourselves up in the faith and praying in the Holy Spirit.

Jude’s focus was on urging his hearers to “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people” which means it is important to challenge the accepted norms of society that are increasingly being absorbed by the Church as Christian leaders blend in with their surroundings like frightened chameleons.

Stirred to Renewed Passion

I have already quoted Sam in two recent articles – so that speaks for itself of his potential for stirring our hearts and minds to renewed passion for Jesus.

Although you don’t often hear it read as a lesson, Anglicans familiar with the communion liturgy will often have heard the paean of praise with which Jude ends his letter – one of the most magnificent pieces of literature ever composed: “Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy; to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen” (King James Version).

With straightforward yet colourful language, Sam challenges the modern Church to test whether they are being led astray.

We need to heed Jude’s warnings, Sam concludes, quoting the wise counsel of Bishop JC Ryle, the 19^th Century evangelical leader: “Let us receive nothing, believe nothing, follow nothing which is not in the Bible, nor can be proved by the Bible.”

As Sam puts it: “The truth is, if the church is going to flourish, then the cuckoos in the nest have to go!”

A former CEO of Messianic Testimony, Sam Gordon now heads up his own ministry, Truth for Today (www.truthfortoday.co.uk) as he continues to travel the world encouraging believers. Cuckoos in the Nest (444 pages) is available from the author’s website for £7.99. Also available elsewhere online.

October 31^st – time to recapture territory from the enemy!

As we have celebrated the significance this week of 31 October, which marks 500 years since the Reformation began, we would do well to be reminded of other important anniversaries which add to the significance of this day.

Nearly 2,000 years earlier on the same day, according to Jewish tradition, the Prophet Ezra called for national repentance as he read the Book of the Law to Jerusalem’s citizens. It was 445 BC and they had sinned grievously against God.

Fast forward to 31 October 1917, to another hugely important event largely ignored by the many Protestants marking the day, 400 years earlier, when Martin Luther famously nailed his 95 theses to a church door in Wittenburg, challenging the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church.

For it is now 100 years since Britain’s War Cabinet agreed the Balfour Declaration (though the letter itself is dated 2 November 1917), promising to make every effort to repatriate Jews in their ancient land. It just happened to coincide with the Battle of Beersheba when 800 bayonet-wielding ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand) soldiers pulled off a surprise, and astonishing, victory over Turkish forces which paved the way for the capture of Jerusalem and all of Palestine, ending 400 years of rule under the Islamic Ottoman Empire.

I have written elsewhere of how the ANZAC horsemen rode a death-defying gauntlet of shrapnel, high explosives and machine-gun fire in a bid to prevent the intended destruction of local wells, and this too is an incredibly important centenary because it opened the way for Jewish restoration and the implementation of the Balfour Declaration – along with the fulfilment of Bible prophecy relating to the return of Jews from every corner of the globe.

If, like Ezra, we support the Book of the Law, we will stand with the people of Israel who gave it to us!

If, like Ezra, we support the Book of the Law, we will stand with the people of Israel who gave it to us!

Reformation Needed

Luther faced two major challenges – a corrupt Church, and the real possibility of a Turkish Muslim invasion via central Europe – in the face of which he recognised the importance of the Book of the Law (the Bible) and the need for national repentance.¹

Many disagreed with Luther. Some German pastors even suggested welcoming Islam, seeing it as less oppressive than their situation under the Church.²

Today’s Church faces the same challenges and more, with secular humanism seriously eroding society’s Judeo-Christian foundations, leaving the Book of the Law despised and Christianity increasingly abhorred.

Dark Distractions

Part of this erosion has included the substitution of a Christian festival – Hallowe’en – for a celebration of the occult, which has taken the shine off the spiritual triumphs we have experienced on this special day.

Hallowe'en (a contraction of All Hallows’ Evening) was originally dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs and all the faithful departed. But it is widely thought to have pagan roots and is now associated with ghoulish practices. One view is that it originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts, in which case it is hardly surprising that it has morphed into an obsession with ghostly goings-on, playing pranks and divination games.³

If the Church of the Middle Ages had focused less on the dead and more on the resurrection, we may have been spared this nonsense. In any event, it is clearly a devilish ploy to substitute the light of truth with the darkness of witchcraft.

A City Set on a Hill

We are living in dark times, and it is the duty of those who follow Christ to be a light “on a hill”, not hidden under a bushel (Matthew 5:14f), in aiding restoration of the Book of the Law, following in the footsteps of Ezra, Luther and others. It is time to take back spiritual territory lost to 21^st Century paganism, just as the ANZAC horsemen bravely charged across the Negev desert to capture vital wells that would save the Allied forces from dehydration and defeat. We too are called to run a gauntlet of spiritual bullets in order to recapture the wells of salvation from an enemy intent on silting them up with lies and propaganda.

Modern-day Zionists should be seeking the restoration of the Book of the Law – not only to Israel, but to our land as well, where we have endured a long famine of hearing the word of the Lord.

We are living in dark times, and it is the duty of those who follow Christ to be a light “on a hill”, not hidden under a bushel.

We must pray and work towards the day when the Jews are able to fulfil their calling to be a light to the Gentiles (Isa 49:6). True, they have already become a powerful nation since their re-birth 70 years ago, but have not yet fully returned to the Book of the Law. They are back in the Land, but not yet fully with the Lord.

That will come, and Ezekiel 36:24-28 will be fulfilled. But in the meantime we must, by our friendship, support and prayer, encourage them to acknowledge that Jesus, whom they had believed was the God of the Gentiles, is actually their own Messiah too. In fact, he came for them first (John 1:11f; Rom 1:16) and has promised that, if they fully obey him, they would be his “treasured possession” (Gen 19:5).

The Times of the Gentiles

In this respect, it’s interesting that the patriarch Joseph was taken into Egypt after being rejected by his brothers. After Jesus was largely rejected by the Jewish people (though a significant number accepted him, of course, or the Church would never have come into existence), the message about him was taken to the nations, and the Gentile world elevated him to a prominent role in their affairs. Isaiah had prophesied that the Gentiles would put their hope in him (Isa 42:4; see also Matt 12:21).

As far as the UK and the USA are concerned, it would be true to say that from the 17^th through 19^th centuries the Gospel of Christ and the Bible itself was the most influential teaching they possessed, affecting virtually every institution and producing great wealth and power in the process. At the same time a host of passionate preachers went out to the far corners of the world spreading this Gospel to heathen nations.

Jesus had in some respects become Lord of the Gentile world, a situation that would, in time, make Israel “envious”, according to the Apostle Paul, an orthodox Jewish rabbi who led the mission to the Gentiles (Rom 11:11).

But just as Joseph never forgot his brothers, and longed for reunion with them, so Jesus – actually descended from Judah and described in the Bible as the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5) – reaches out in love to his long-lost brothers in the flesh, for whom things got worse before they got better. Now, over the past two centuries (even in the midst of multiple pogroms and the Holocaust itself), he has been revealing himself afresh to his people.

Ezekiel 36:24-28 will be fulfilled. But in the meantime we must, by our friendship, support and prayer, encourage Israel to acknowledge that Jesus is their Messiah.

Jewish Restoration to Messiah Jesus

Though sadly Jesus is still seen largely as God of the Gentiles, Jewish eyes have gradually been opened. It is believed, for example, that there were as many as 100,000 Jewish followers of Jesus at the outbreak of World War II in 1939.⁴

Tragically, many of them would have perished in Hitler’s gas chambers. But out of the ashes of the Holocaust, we not only have a re-born nation of Israel, but a growing number of so-called Messianic fellowships bringing Jesus back to where he belongs.

Just as Joseph was a sign of what was to come 400 years later, with deliverance from Egypt through the blood of the lamb, so the voice of the prophets recorded in the Jewish Tanakh (what Christians call the Old Testament) fell silent for 400 years until the revelation of Jesus in the New Testament. Joseph provided his brothers with grain amidst the famine. And now Jesus is “the bread of life” – the manna from heaven – as he “fills the hungry with good things” (John 6:35; Luke 1:53).

There will come a time when, back in the land of promise and delivered from bondage in a hostile world, all Israel will recognise Yeshua, their Messiah (Zech 12:10; Rom 11:26). What a day that will be – life from the dead as he who was despised and rejected of men is revealed to his brothers alive…and as Lord of all!

Notes

1 BarnabasAid editorial, September/October 2017, published by Barnabas Fund, an aid agency for the persecuted church.

2 Ibid.

3 E.g. see here.

4 Restoring Israel by Kelvin Crombie, published by Nicolayson’s Ltd, Christ Church, Jerusalem, p156.

A child of the age: we continue our new series on the origins of the charismatic movement.

“Ephraim mixes with the nations...Foreigners sap his strength, but he does not realise it. His hair is sprinkled with grey, but he does not notice”. (Hosea 7:8-9)

Since the days of the Industrial Revolution, Britain has been a class-dominated society, the product of twin forces of industrialisation and urbanisation, which broke the power of the landowners and the old social order of feudalism. This was replaced by the new social classes of entrepreneurs, industrialists, skilled craftsmen and unskilled workers.

The latter formed a new class of landless peasants at the mercy of the owners of industry, who not only controlled the means of production but also owned the houses which their workers rented from them. Thus, from the earliest days of industrialisation, the British working classes saw themselves as the powerless ones who had to fight for survival against their economic oppressors. The seeds were sown of the class warfare which bedevilled British industry for 200 years, the legacy of which is still with us today.

Political Upheaval: The People vs the Privileged

The beginning of the 20^th Century saw the Labour movement beginning to become an organised political force, but it took two world wars in the first half of the century to break the social mould. The Atlee Government of 1945 was the first Socialist administration to obtain real power in Britain. Their legislative programme of social reform and reconstruction was to have far-reaching consequences which changed the face of Britain for the rest of the century.

The creation of the Welfare State with its boasted objective of caring for each individual from the cradle to the grave was designed to eliminate poverty and ensure justice for all. This objective was fully in line with the prevailing mood throughout the world which saw the post-war generation striving for freedom, justice, self-determination, equality and prosperity for all.

The post-war generation strove for freedom, justice, self-determination, equality and prosperity for all.

In industrial societies this was expressed in various forms of socialism, while in non-industrial societies it was anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism. Marxism in various forms spread right across the world as an expression of the aspirations of the poor and oppressed. This was in harmony with the rise of black consciousness in societies dominated by whites and the rise of nationalism in countries dominated by foreign nationals or alien ethnic groups.

In retrospect, the 20^th Century may be seen as a period of ‘the people versus the privileged’; a revolution of the oppressed against rulers and oppressors; a struggle for justice and freedom for all.

By the middle of the century this movement reached a peak of political consciousness as it combined with the post-World War II period of reconstruction and the anti-war/pro-peace movement. During the 1950s and early 1960s the political expression of these aspirations reached its height with the achievement of independence in most of the former European colonial territories. In Asia, India, the Middle East, Africa and South America the face of the world changed; the global map had to be redrawn.

Social Change: The Birth of Pop Culture

During this same period a new movement was birthed, particularly in the USA and Europe: an ideological and social movement destined to have as far-reaching effects as its political counterpart. It was what sociologists have termed 'pop culture'; a spontaneous, youth-dominated, ideological movement expressing the hopes and aspirations of the post-war-generation in the rich industrial nations of the West.

The prevailing economic and social conditions in these nations were ripe for just such an ideological movement. The post-war reconstruction period required massive building programmes of houses, offices, industrial plants and roads. The demand for labour was high which, in Britain, brought immigration from former colonies. But, even more significantly, it increased the wages of working people and opened up lifestyles beyond the imagination of former generations.

In Britain, for the first time in history, young people were able to command high wages. Even school leavers were able to go straight into unskilled work with large pay packets at the end of the week. Almost overnight a new consumer class was born with high purchasing power and minimal social responsibilities. These were young single people with no families to support, no mortgages, but with money in their pockets.

‘Pop culture’ developed as a youth-dominated ideological movement expressing the aspirations and hopes of the post-war generation in the West.

A free enterprise economy quickly adjusted to produce goods satisfying to this new consumer group. The market became youth-dominated, with clothing fashions, records, hi-fi equipment, motorbikes, youth festivals, fast-food joints and a wide variety of material goods and activities designed to meet the desires and fulfil the demands of rapidly changing pop fashions.

Public awareness of the birth of this new ideological movement dawned as a rude awakening. It came in 1956 with the arrival in Britain of an American film, Rock Around the Clock, featuring Bill Haley and a new strain of music known as 'rock'n'roll'. The film was screened in a cinema at the Elephant and Castle, in south-east London. The largely teenage audience ripped up the seats and rocked in the aisles which sent shock waves through the nation. It was soon followed by a multitude of home-grown youth musicians, skiffle groups, guitarists and rock bands.

The age of DIY had arrived. Young people did not simply want to be passive audiences, they wanted to do it themselves, either by being performers or at least joining actively in the physical activity of dancing, jiving, rocking and rolling, dressing up as Teddy boys or Mods and Rockers, driving in their motorcycle gangs and generally terrorising the older generation. The latter hailed the birth of pop culture with a dread of the future, believing the whole world to have gone mad.

Educational Change

An important agent in creating the social conditions which gave rise to pop culture was the education system which, during this period, experienced radical and far-reaching changes generated by a new educational philosophy. A new breed of teachers was produced in the post-war period, many of them with Marxist leanings, or at least strong socialist principles.

They rejected the 'chalk and talk' Victorian methods of teaching which relied heavily on learning by rote. The new philosophy centred upon the 'discovery method' of education. Instead of an active teacher instructing a passive class of pupils, children were encouraged to discover facts for themselves.

This meant that they no longer sat still and were punished for speaking; they were encouraged to work in groups, to carry out little research projects in the library, the countryside or the city streets. Physical punishment was seen as degrading and offensive to the rights of children. This in turn had its effect upon family life and discipline in the home, as well as social behaviour on the football terraces and in the streets.

A new breed of teachers was produced in the post-war period, many of them with Marxist leanings, or at least strong socialist principles.

Legislative Change

The ideological revolution which spawned pop culture was aided, strengthened and, in many ways, made socially effective, by legislation. Many far-reaching social reforms were effected in a 20-year period following World War II.

It may be questioned whether they were responsible for the social revolution which has taken place in Britain in the second half of the 20^th Century or whether they simply reflected changing social values. It is probably a chicken-and-egg situation in which both are true, as the one influenced the other.

The first major ideological reform was the repeal of the Witchcraft Act in 1951 followed by the Obscene Publications Act (1959). These were followed in the 1960s by a string of measures effecting far-reaching social reform, dealing with race relations, capital punishment, homosexual acts, abortion and the discarding of censorship in publications and public entertainments.
All these measures reflected the desire for freedom of choice and a society reputedly coming of age where people were able to make their own assessment of right and wrong, the good and the harmful.

Pop culture developed into a powerful social movement which created a society based upon 'situation ethics' rather than moral absolutes. In essence, it was both hedonistic and individualistic. It was a society leaving behind the restrictions of the past and moving into new eras of individual freedom. Society was sailing into uncharted waters, driven by the strong winds of moral anarchy. Such a philosophy could only end in social anarchy - a society in which everyone does that which is right in their own eyes.

Coming up: Over the next three weeks we will look at characteristics of pop culture and how these infiltrated and shaped the Church.

Originally published in 1995. Revised Oct/Nov 2017.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘The Last Reformation’ by Torben Sondergaard (Laurus Books, 2013).

This is a book which has influenced many and will interest anyone who wishes to explore how the Church today has changed since the 1^st Century and how it can recover its early life-force (hence the subtitle: ‘Back to the New Testament model of discipleship’).

The title itself is intriguing – what does the author mean by ‘last’? Is this part of the Reformation, or another phase of a larger scenario which has been developing over five centuries? The answers become clear in the Preface as Sondergaard, a Danish evangelist, begins to make his case.

After the Lutheran reformation of the 15^th Century came the Wesleyan one in the 18^th. If the former was a doctrinal reformation, then the latter was a spiritual one, “in which personal intimacy with Christ was rediscovered” (p11). However, neither changed the structure of how church operated, its framework and services. In fact, Sondergaard asserts that “none of the revivals of the past have seriously done anything about the church structure” (p11). He is looking for a new and radical reformation, a third and final one that will transform everything.

Luther and Wesley both brought reformation, but the structure of how church operated has remained the same.

Preparing to Meet the Bridegroom

Although he has not included other movements in his assessment (such as the Evangelical awakening, Pentecostalism or the more recent Hebraic roots movement), he does accept that each revival has brought the Church closer and closer to the 1^st Century model. But overall, these small changes have not made a radical difference. They have simply produced more denominations!

Sondergaard calls for a completely fresh start based on the Word of God and Jesus himself. Only then will we have a reformation where God can “put together all the pieces and prepare the church to meet her Bridegroom” (p16).

What Could Church Look Like?

The strength of his case, and hence of the book, is that the author has been putting this into practice and seeing it work.

His opening chapter draws us in nicely with a thought experiment: imagine there is not a single Christian in the whole world - no churches, no Christian books, no Christian TV. Just one Bible, which someone picks up and reads all the way through. He is converted, decides to follow Jesus completely, witnesses to others and, gradually, churches start.

Sondergaard’s question is: “What do you think their churches would look like?” (p19). And here is the challenge – why aren’t our churches like that? Different traditions and cultures have got in the way, and it is possible today that for many, ‘church’ prevents people coming to Christ.

The strength of his case, and hence of the book, is that the author has been putting this into practice and seeing it work.

The later chapters are powerful in what they propose. The author is against popularising Christianity at the expense of promoting the true Gospel and offering a biblical model of discipleship. ‘Seeker friendly’ services don’t work. It is often said that Christians are the Church (i.e. the Church is the people, not a building), but he goes further, asserting that Christians are also meant to be the ‘church services’. Every member is to be equipped for ministry, as per the early churches in the New Testament.

The chapter on leadership is key to his overall argument. Too often, leaders are put (or put themselves) into elevated positions over their flock whose role is simply to ‘obey their leader’. Recognising that a leader is simply a brother or sister with greater responsibilities can go some way to restoring the balance and encouraging others to play their full part in the Body of Christ.

A Thought-Provoking Book

Overall, this is a thought-provoking book with much to say on the current state of the Church, in this country and elsewhere.

Perhaps its main downside is that there are several chapters of autobiographical details which, for some, may be rather unnecessary and get in the way of the main flow. It may be important to know something of Sondergaard’s personal journey in his ministry, but it does delay the reader in getting to grips with the key message of the book. A shorter book would have worked just as well, maybe even better.

That said, the book will be of interest to all who have a passion to see the Church escape unnecessary trappings and embrace her true calling. It is accompanied by a feature-length movie, also entitled ‘The Last Reformation’, which affords viewers an insight into Sondergaard’s practical application of his passion for the Church. The Last Reformation: The Movie is available to stream for free online.

The Last Reformation (paperback, 173 pages) is for £13.98 on Amazon. Also available as an e-book and as an audio book.

500 years ago this coming week, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany.

500 years ago this coming week (31 October 1517), Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. In those days, this was the traditional way to initiate a public debate on a given theme.

This time the theme was a 95-fold challenge to the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church of the day, that was bent on fundraising at the expense of the poor by selling so-called ‘indulgences’, whereby the unsuspecting were persuaded that they could purchase forgiveness of sins.

The 95 items¹ were headed with the words:

Out of love for the truth and from desire to elucidate it, the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and ordinary lecturer therein at Wittenberg, intends to defend the following statements and to dispute on them in that place. Therefore he asks that those who cannot be present and dispute with him orally shall do so in their absence by letter. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

Luther summarised his overall purpose under three headings:

1. Selling indulgences to finance the building of St Peter's is wrong.
   
2. The pope has no power over Purgatory.
   
3. Buying indulgences gives people a false sense of security and endangers their salvation.
   

Thus broke out what became the Protestant Reformation, with the rallying cry of Habbakuk 2:4:

Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.

Luther did not succeed in reforming the Catholic Church of his day but became cut off from this community, instead propelling into existence the Lutheran wing of the Protestant Church, which has spread its influence widely over these 500 years.

Luther did not succeed in reforming the Catholic Church of his day, but propelled into existence the Lutheran wing of the Protestant Church.

Luther’s Blind Spot

This week, we should celebrate this astounding move which brought freedom to millions who were no longer to be chained by the religious orders of the historic Roman Catholic Church, but free to explore the life of faith which pleases God. The later reforms of the Roman Catholic Church surely also owe something to this early proclamation of Luther.

The church door in Wittenberg, Germany, where Luther pinned his 95 theses for all to see. See Photo Credits.

Yet, great though the Protestant Reformation has been, we would also be wise to perceive an unfinished work. Luther had one tremendous blind spot. When he failed to impact the Jewish community with his proclamation of the Gospel, he turned against them. In his publication of 1543 ‘On the Jews and their Lies’, he described Jews as a "base, whoring people, that is, no people of God, and their boast of lineage, circumcision, and law must be accounted as filth." He wrote that they are "full of the devil's faeces...which they wallow in like swine," describing the synagogue is an "incorrigible whore and an evil slut".²

He proposed the following seven actions:

1. To burn down Jewish synagogues and schools and warn people against them;
   
2. To refuse to let Jews own houses among Christians;
   
3. For Jewish religious writings to be taken away;
   
4. For rabbis to be forbidden to preach;
   
5. To offer no protection to Jews on highways;
   
6. For usury to be prohibited and for all silver and gold to be removed, put aside for safekeeping, and given back to Jews who truly convert;
   
7. To give young, strong Jews flail, axe, spade, and spindle, and let them earn their bread by the sweat of their brow.
   

Luther could not have foreseen that this unfortunate after-thought in his later life, following many years of powerful and fruitful ministry, would be taken up literally by Hitler’s Nazis as an impetus to the terrible ‘final solution’, culminating in the horror of the Holocaust.

Let us thank God for the good fruits of Luther’s ministry, but now take responsibility for the completion of the Reformation.

The True Life of Faith

Luther was fluent in Hebrew yet he failed to fully understand Hebraic thought. He saw the Epistle of James as a “perfect straw-epistle” because he did not understand James’ teaching that faith without works is dead (James 2:26).³

No doubt his mind was already so much against those from a Jewish background (like James, whose name was actually Jacob) to consider them as having a doctrine of salvation by works, like the Roman Catholics of his day.

He did not consider the Hebrew emunah sufficiently to observe that it means both ‘faith’ and ‘faithfulness’, so that Hebrews 11:1 can be translated equally “faith is the substance of things hoped for” and “faithfulness is the substance of things hoped for”, which completely validates James’ teaching that the faith which pleases God involves the fruitful outworking of our lives.

Luther was fluent in Hebrew yet he failed to fully understand Hebraic thought.

A Careful Eye on Prophecy

Of course Luther did not live in our day when we see the miracle of Israel’s re-birth as a nation. Nor did he witness the increasing numbers of Messianic Jews declaring faith in Yeshua HaMashiach. Would he have been ashamed if he knew of his own contribution to fanning the flames of Replacement Theology still rampant in the Christian Church?

Had he lived today perhaps he would not have been so foolish as to speak against the Jews as he did and may well have written a 96^th thesis. He may have had a more careful eye on the outworking of prophecy. In his day, just as he discarded the Epistle of James and also that of Jude, he discarded the Book of Revelation. Perhaps he had not the prompting to consider end time prophecy as we have, with signs all around us.

What would this 96^th thesis be? Let me suggest it:

96 For discussion: We live in the sure expectancy that God is drawing together both Jews and Gentiles into the one community of faith which Paul calls the ‘one new man’ (Ephesians 2:14-15). It is now time to rediscover the original roots of our faith together. God, in His wisdom, is enabling a fresh interaction between Messianic Jews and believing Gentiles as never before to firmly establish the common faith. Surely this will be the means of strengthening for the days ahead, for washing away all doctrinal and denominational division when we are united in Spirit and Truth through Faith in the One True God and His Son Yeshua the Messiah. This is to be the goal of all who believe in Him, whether from Catholic or Protestant backgrounds. Surely this will complete the Reformation begun so sacrificially 500 years ago, but now to be completed as we wait for the return of our Saviour.

References

1 Click here for a translation of the entire 95 theses.

2 Anti-Semitism: Martin Luther - "The Jews & Their Lies" (1543). Jewish Virtual Library.

3 Martin Luther and the Book of James. Biblestudy.org.

We begin to serialise an older classic on the charismatic movement.

We are pleased this week to begin re-publishing ‘Blessing the Church?’, which was written in the mid-1990s as an in-depth response to the ‘Toronto Blessing’ and the perceived excesses of the modern charismatic movement.

When it was published in 1995, ‘Blessing the Church?’ made a seminal contribution to the debate on the direction of the charismatic movement, as well as to teaching on deception within the Body of Christ. Though written in response to a particular set of circumstances more than 20 years ago, its message stands the test of time. Though a great deal has changed since the 1990s, sadly even more has stayed the same.

We will be serialising the book over the next eight weeks and commend it to you warmly.^1,2 We believe it should be foundational reading for all who are interested in understanding the background of the contemporary charismatic movement, and so the shape it is in today. Indeed, it is commended to any believer who is passionate about seeing the Body of Christ grow and flourish as Messiah Jesus intended.

Dr Frances Rabbitts

Managing Editor, Prophecy Today UK

Blessing the Church? Introduction

Rev Dr Clifford Hill

Few observers of the Church scene would deny that the 1990s proved to be a critical period for the charismatic movement.

The publication of books and articles speaking about a crisis within the movement proliferated. Hank Hanegraaff in Christianity in Crisis (Harvest House, 1993) carried out extensive research of the teaching given by a number of prominent charismatic leaders. He looked at their statements in comparison with Scripture and found that many of them were contrary to the Bible.

There was growing anxiety, not simply among reformed evangelicals, but among many within the charismatic movement, concerning a serious drift away from biblical principles. Of course, there will always be differences of interpretation and textual exegesis. But differences in interpretation cannot account for statements which are directly contrary to those found in the Bible.

The charismatic movement has been a tremendous blessing to millions of Christians who have found a new freedom in worship and a deeper personal relationship with God which has strengthened their faith and enabled them to participate more actively in the work of the Gospel.

However, the emphasis upon personal experience which broke the icy grip of traditionalism in most branches of the Church has also had its down side, as charismatics have been carried along on waves of excitement into deeper realms of experience. Any movement or teaching which offers the believer a deeper personal experience with the living God is highly attractive. Yet when experience parts company with sound biblical teaching, there is grave danger for the believer. There is strong evidence that this is what happened within the charismatic movement during the 1990s and, in various waves and guises, has continued since.

When experience parts company with sound biblical teaching, there is grave danger for the believer. 

The Toronto Blessing

The wave of spiritual experience that began in 1994 known as the ‘Toronto Blessing’ has received worldwide publicity. In Britain a number of books were on the market within months of the first appearance of the phenomenon. These offered uncritical and excited accounts of what was variously described as ‘revival’, ‘pre-revival’, ‘times of refreshing’, the ‘impartation of supernatural power’ and numerous other descriptions.

There were many published accounts of the benefits of the 'blessing' in the lives of believers. Many testified that they had been drawn into closer communion with God, a deeper commitment to prayer, to Bible study and renewed love for Jesus. At the same time there were many accounts of bizarre phenomena such as making animal noises and uncontrollable physical manifestations including screaming and vomiting which many charismatics did not believe could be the work of the Holy Spirit.

At the height of the Toronto Blessing many churches gave scant attention to the preaching and expounding of the word of God. In some cases, this was enforced due to the preacher becoming overcome by physical convulsions which rendered him incapable of speech. Many charismatics shook their heads and said surely God would not hinder the proclamation of his own word! Others were greatly excited by these strange activities and participated enthusiastically in the 'receiving meetings' where the emphasis was upon receiving 'more of God'.

Divisive Effect

In Britain, the Toronto Blessing resulted in the most widespread and deep-rooted division to hit the Church for many years. This division was not between believers and unbelievers, or between evangelical and liberal; it was a division among charismatics themselves. It brought division in the families of believers, it divided prayer groups, it brought division and splits within congregations and it divided church from church even within the same denomination.

In Britain, the Toronto Blessing resulted in the most widespread and deep-rooted division to hit the Church for many years. 

There is evidence of thousands of Spirit-filled believers leaving their churches and being forced to seek other places of worship or simply meeting in little ad hoc house fellowships, or even going nowhere while nursing the hurts of rejection by leaders who refused to hear any questioning of the bizarre activities in their congregation. This division contrasts strangely with the experience of the disciples recorded in Acts chapters 2-5, when, from the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit brought sweet unity, love and sharing among the believers.

Background to ‘Blessing the Church?’

It was out of a deep concern for love and unity in those churches which have experienced the renewing power of the Holy Spirit in recent years that two leadership consultations were called at Bawtry Hall in Yorkshire in January and March 1995. It was out of the papers given at those consultations and the subsequent discussion that ‘Blessing the Church?’ arose.

Its strength lay in the fact that all the writers were not only evangelical preachers of many years' experience, but that they were each convinced of the presence, the power and the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Church today, and that spiritual gifts may be exercised by all believers. All wrote, therefore, from within the charismatic movement, not as hostile observers from outside.

All the writers – Clifford Hill, Peter Fenwick, David Forbes and David Noakes - had been involved in leadership in the charismatic movement from the early days. We wrote, not in the spirit of judgmental-ism, or indeed with a negative critical attitude. Rather we wrote out of a deep concern, for the Church in which we had leadership responsibilities and for the future direction being taken by the charismatic movement.

The prime purpose in writing was to draw attention to what we considered to be a serious drift away from biblically-based teaching into the realm of experientialism. This led to the pernicious practice of using contemporary 'revelation' as the basis for doctrine and the justification for the formulation of new teaching and practice within the Church which has no biblical foundation.

We wrote out of deep concern for the Church and for the future direction being taken by the charismatic movement. 

Each of the writers undertook in-depth research examining our own teaching and practice and a searching re-evaluation and re-assessment in the light of biblical scholarship. Our study of the Bible led each of us to extend our personal re-evaluation to include current practices across the whole spectrum of the charismatic movement and to an examination in some detail of the underlying teaching. It is out of the fruit of this examination that this book was written. It contains a message which we believe to be of vital importance in these days.

We recognise our own failings as leaders and our proneness to go astray in days when there are enormous pressures from the world around us and when we do not see very much to encourage us from the fruit of our labours. We therefore wrote in a spirit of love and humility under the deep conviction that the Bible provides us with the only standard of truth that can guard us against error, false doctrine, wrong practices and unrighteous behaviour.

Dangers Facing the Church

It is our earnest hope that what we have written will be received by our brothers and sisters in Christ in the same spirit of love and humility in which we have written – today, as much as when it was first published.

Inevitably, in our examination of contemporary teaching in the charismatic movement we had to note those leaders who were most closely associated with its propagation. Our task, however, was not to make accusations against brothers in Christ, but rather to contend for the faith which we all hold to be precious and to warn where we saw teaching which is seriously at variance with Scripture. Such teaching opens the door to all kinds of error and aberrant practices.

There is grave danger today of the Church being infiltrated by New Age teaching and the charismatic movement is not immune from this danger. Neither is it immune, if it drifts away from a strict adherence to the Bible as the plumb-line of divine revelation and truth, from straying into the realms of cultic activity.

Our warnings are sounded in days of great danger for the Church. In the Western industrialised nations, we are faced with the continuing onslaught of secularism and rising hostility to the Gospel in the context of increasing lawlessness and social decay. On the world scene Islamic fundamentalism and the use of violence to achieve their objectives is a continuing menace to the spread of the Gospel and is resulting in many thousands of Christian martyrs each year.

Yet the worldwide Church continues to grow through tremendous spiritual awakenings in many of the poorest nations. The greatest threat to their faith is the spread of Westernisation and what we in the West have come to recognise as ‘pop culture' - the culture of easy affluence, sensuous self-indulgence and acquisitive materialism driven by moral and spiritual anarchy.

Our warnings are sounded in days of great danger for the Church. 

It is in the context of the contemporary world situation and our deep desire to see the re-evangelisation of the Western nations, our own longings for revival and our unshakeable belief in the activity of the Holy Spirit among us in the Church today that we wrote ‘Blessing the Church?’.

We call to our brothers and sisters in Christ to recognise the dangerous situation which still faces us; and to recognise also that our emphasis upon the experiential within the charismatic movement has led us away from the doctrinal basis of the faith which our forefathers held to be of supreme importance. We therefore plead for a re-examination of current teaching and practice among charismatics in all branches of the Church and a recognition that the Bible provides us with the only plumb-line of truth.

Our analysis required examining the teaching of a number of those who minister within the charismatic/evangelical churches. Inevitably in so doing we had to name names. Our purpose was to compare what was being taught with what the Bible says. Our aim was not to discredit these men or to invalidate their ministries. Rather, it is still our hope that what we have written will contribute to the ongoing theological debate within the charismatic movement.

Although this book was written against the background of the debate on the Toronto Blessing, its scope is much wider. All the writers saw Toronto as merely the latest step in a continuing process of an overemphasis upon experience and a neglect of sound biblical teaching. We therefore attempted to look at the antecedents of Toronto rather than the phenomenon itself.

What Will Follow

What we undertook was essentially to re-trace our steps to the early days of the charismatic movement. We looked at the introduction of different teachings, beliefs and practices at different stages in its development.

Over the next seven weeks Prophecy Today UK will re-publish this work, starting with an examination of the rise of the movement in the context of the social history and secular culture in which it gained momentum. Subsequent articles will examine restorationist beliefs, the Latter Rain Revival movement of the 1940s in North America and its influence on charismatic doctrine, and the development of the charismatic movement itself – including its direction and the kinds of prophecies that have come through it.

Our writers draw many penetrating insights from Scripture which illuminate the Church’s situation during the 1990s – and which undoubtedly still have relevance today.

Next week: A child of the age? The socio-cultural background of the charismatic movement.

First published in 1995. Updated and serialised October 2017.

Notes

1 If you are interested in purchasing a paper copy, limited numbers are still available on Amazon at the time of publishing.

2 We have revised the text where necessary to update it for 2017 web publication, but have tried to keep these revisions minimal.

Ian Farley reviews ‘The Nation's Gospel: Spreading the Christian Faith in Britain Since the Reformation: Volume 1’ by Jeremy Thomas (Wilberforce Publications, 2017).

The Nation's Gospel, according to the publishers, is “a living history, telling the stories of the Christian faith of past generations and its outworking in society”.¹

There are two important points to note about this book: first, it is the opening volume of a four-volume series. Second, the author is a lawyer.

This volume covers 300 years (1516-1791 - from ‘Reformation to Revolution’), whereas Volume 2 covers 100 years (1791-1900) and Volumes 3 and 4 each cover only 50 years (1900-1945 and 1945-2015, respectively).

These are significant differences, especially considering Volume 1 deals with such enormous topics as the English Reformation, the Civil War era and the 18^th Century revival. On each of these topics you could, of course, read multiple books. Inevitably this means the book is very brief on many issues - and yet remains quite dense, given its scope.

So, for those who know anything in reasonable detail about these 300 years, there will be little to learn, but for those readers who know less about Britain’s religious history (mainly England’s, but with small excursions into Scotland’s and Wales’), here is a one-volume whizz through the main points.

What Makes the Gospel Spread?

The subtitle of the book is ‘Spreading the Christian faith in Britain since the Reformation’. With this focus, Thomas goes beyond a simple description of what has happened in Britain’s Gospel history, to ask the intriguing question of what makes the Gospel spread successfully.

It is this that makes the book worthwhile (and hopefully will make the subsequent volumes worth perusing, especially the 20^th Century ones).

Thomas asks the intriguing question of what makes the Gospel spread successfully.

In the vast scope of this first volume, Thomas focuses on just a few individuals at a little more length than others, as he explores this key question. He picks Catherine Parr (perhaps surprisingly) for the Reformation period, Richard Baxter for the Civil War, and George Whitefield for the 18^th Century (with a special sub-section on Selina, Countess of Huntingdon).

He ultimately concludes that it is the doctrine of the Great Commission that matters most. In other words, in the midst of sermons, catechisms and good works, the Gospel spreads when simple personal faith in the substitutionary death of Jesus is proclaimed as the need of man (the main villain in Britain’s history, therefore, has been the teaching of baptismal re-generation, particularly by the Established Church. We presume that the next volume will have much to say about the Gorham controversy).

Legal Tone

Without resorting to a Dickensian Jarndyce and Jarndyce caricature, the fact remains that Jeremy Thomas has spent his life in legal matters, working as a corporate lawyer in the City.

As a result, his writing is laid out rather like a legal report. Every paragraph is numbered in bold type – 14.14, 14.15, 14.16 and so on – which makes the book rather staccato in style, with a lack of flow and continuity. For academics this might be helpful, and for some this will make the reading simpler and clearer – but for others it will be very dry.

Nevertheless, this remains a useful overview of a topic in which every British Christian should rightly take an interest and desire some sense of ownership – especially those who are concerned about the loss (and possible recovery) of this heritage today.

The Nation’s Gospel: Volume 1 (393 pages) is available here for £14.

References

1 Christian Concern News Release, 28 June 2017.

Monica Hill begins the final portion of her series on the spiritual gifts.

This article is part of a series. Click here for the full archive.

“Now to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good…”

Having spent some time studying the spiritual gifts in three of the lists given in the New Testament we come now to the most controversial and most often misunderstood list in 1 Corinthians 12.

They are controversial because these gifts were neglected for many centuries, especially in the West once the Church was established, as they were felt to be relevant to the 1st Century Church only. They were misunderstood when re-discovered by the Pentecostal movement at the beginning of the 20^th Century, and even now there can be various interpretations of the meaning of these more experiential gifts.

Setting in Context

We need to start first by looking at the context in which Paul delivered his teaching on this list of nine ‘gifts’ – which more rightly should be termed ‘manifestations’ of the Spirit. This comes from the Greek pneumatikon, which has connotations of invisibility and power. Some of these ‘manifestations’ sound very similar to the gifts we have already studied, but they are also very different.

The Corinthian church was not a united community of believers and they must have caused Paul much heartache. He had to battle not only against a strong Greek culture and systemic thinking but also against immoral behaviour in the church, which affected its witness.

The manifestations of the Holy Spirit were neglected in the Church for many centuries.

Practical Help

1 Corinthians is a very practical book and shows Paul’s concern for this infant community, especially when there was so much division among the members. One of his practical concerns was very much for the use (or against the misuse) of the gifts or manifestations he lists in chapter 12.

In chapter 11 he endeavoured to get relationships in the church right and was especially concerned about the behaviour of its members in their worship times and when celebrating the Lord’s Supper. His concern was to combat their brazen concentration on themselves rather than thinking of others and this is reflected through the next two or three chapters.

Call for Unity

The ‘manifestations’ listed in chapter 12 have an emphasis on unity and use for ‘the common good’. They emphasise that the gifts are all coming from the same Spirit, although they may be of different kinds.

No one person owns these gifts (1 Cor 12:11) – they are available to any true believer and are only given as the Spirit wishes. As Edmund Heddle says “The initiative in the operation of these gifts must remain in the hands of the Spirit and once his purpose is completed the manifestation of the gift will cease”.¹

The Body of Christ

There then follows the lovely passage from verse 12 to the end of the chapter about the Body of Christ being many parts but still only one. Its analogy with the human body – every part is needed and none is more important than the others – is well worth reading and emphasising again and again.

The chapter concludes with a series of rhetorical questions. The translation of verse 31 can be confusing in some versions. I personally do not think it should be read as a challenge for believers to strive for the greater gifts - in view of the arguments that these are given by the Holy Spirit as he sees fit, how can this be? Rather, I believe that it is ridiculing what the Corinthians were trying to be seen doing and goes on to show them the better way of love.

As such, a better translation of 1 Corinthians 12:31 is “But you are striving for the greater gifts! And now I will show you the most excellent thing”. The love poem that follows in chapter 13 is not an intrusion into this section on spiritual gifts but complements it superbly. It can be used for individuals and is of course perfect for marriages - but do read it again thinking particularly of its relation to the use of gifts in the fellowship of believers.

No one person owns these gifts – they are available to any true believer and are only given as the Spirit wishes.

Practicalities

In chapter 14 we look again at the practicalities arising when the Corinthian assembly were using (or misusing) some of the most controversial of the manifestations – gifts of prophecy and tongues. Note how Paul attempted to deliver good teaching from a distance, some of which we will use when we study these specific manifestations in detail.

Need for Harmony

In the next few weeks we will be looking at the nine gifts mentioned here – but we will be looking at them in groups, as none of them should stand alone. Those speaking in tongues need others with the gift of interpretation alongside them; those prophesying need others to distinguish between the spirits bringing the prophetic words and a special kind of faith is needed for gifts of healing and miraculous powers.

When these work in harmony, the Lord’s name will be praised and blessed.

References

1 Heddle, E, 2016. Spiritual Gifts. Issachar Ministries, p16.