The Charismatic Movement and Gifts of the Spirit Under a Microscope

By Don Polson

There have been many books written on this topic, but this book is sure to be different than any you have read before. All who have read the manuscript said they gained new insights into these spiritualities. The author takes a look at the modern charismatic movement from its start at Azusa Street and follows it to what it has grown into today. His point is that, to be a truth seeker, you cant be afraid to take these issues head-on. He discusses the baptism in the Holy Spirit, a totally different view on gifts, true biblical empowerment (strength through weakness, the Paul model), and thirty-three things we receive the instant we become Christians. The last and hardest chapter to write was the topic of the modern-day tongues movement. Is it biblical? Is there a real and a counterfeit? and how can it be tested based on the Bible?

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512765823

Don Polson

The author is a layman who has researched his whole life. At different times, he has been an elder, a chairman of the missions committee, and in charge of Navigator Christian discipleship at a large Bible church. He had a ministry at the local community hospital where he discipled and trained people on how to share their faith.

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 Don Polson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the American Standard Version.

Scripture taken from the King James Version.

WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6583-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6584-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6582-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016920511

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/20/2017

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 The Purpose of This Book

Chapter 2 The Importance of Truth Seeking

Chapter 3 Baptism in the Holy Spirit: What Does That Mean?

Chapter 4 What Does It Mean to Be in Christ?

Chapter 5 New Look at Spiritual Gifts

Chapter 6 A Biblical View of the Manifestation of Tongues

Conclusion

Preface

As I write the preface to this book, I feel like the emperor with no clothes. I know what I have written must be spoken; I wonder why pastors haven’t stepped up to the plate and brought these issues to light more often.

I can page down through all the Christian channels, and the majority just assume a second-blessing baptism with evidence of speaking in tongues. It reminds me of our national media. If all you hear is one side and hear it often enough, it becomes truth. Most evangelicals or mainline denominations don’t believe this doctrine, but they don’t rebut it. It takes courage to go against the grain. Think of how much courage Martin Luther must have had to nail his ninety-five theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. We cannot let that happen with the church; we must rightly divide the Word of truth. God is still doing the supernatural in the church today, but we can’t make it up as we go along.

This book is about truth seeking wherever it takes us. You won’t read very far before you see you can’t be politically correct and be a truth seeker. At times, you’ll think I’m too direct and to the point, but these things must be said to be a truth seeker.

The book covers tongues, the history of the Charismatic movement, gifts of the Spirit, baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the thirty-three things people instantly receive when they become Christians. We’ll explore real and counterfeit tongues and how to tell the difference. You’ll see a view on spiritual gifts different from what you’ve heard before. We’ll separate the gifts (charisma) from the ministries (diakonia) as well as the effects or manifestations (energema) of the Spirit.

Once most Christians come to Christ, they believe they’ve arrived and thus become less teachable. We must stay faithful, available, and teachable. All of this is from the eyes of a layperson, not a theologian. I’ll make my point that tongues are a manifestation or a ministry and not a gift of the Spirit. I’ll make my point that we all have one and only one gift. I’ll make my point that there are only seven gifts of the Spirit. Jesus is the Word, and we must have faith in that Word to form proper doctrine.

The most amazing thing about this book is that I had no intention of writing it. Don’t ask me how I did; it just happened because I had trouble sleeping at night. I don’t have a very large library, but I didn’t have to buy a single reference book. As I started writing, I started remembering the books I had, some of which I hadn’t thought about for years.

None of this would have been possible without my brother-in-law, John, my brother Wil, and my sisters, Dorothy and Doris. But my son, Phil Polson, and his wife, Sarah Polson, did most of the heavy lifting. I call a computer Kryptonite from Superman movies. Let’s just say I made many computer calls to John, Phil, and Sarah. Phil helped me put my chapters together, and Sarah did most of the editing. I’m especially grateful to John, Phil, and Sarah because they made it possible.

Chapter 1

The Purpose of This Book

I’ve observed the Charismatic movement come to the forefront over the last forty years. It started out crawling, but it has now come to dominate the airways even though only a little over 1 in 4 claim to be charismatic. Some good has come out of it, and it’s great any time the kingdom of God is advanced.

Then I started noticing little differences that just didn’t seem right and made me concerned about the movement. I realized no one is all knowing when it comes to the scriptures, so when I’d spot these differences, I’d just dismiss them by saying the situation was similar to the fact we have different dominations—Assemblies of God, Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians among them.

Most of us wouldn’t admit it, but sometimes, we act as if we interpret the scriptures just a little better than our Christian brothers do. I’ve not seen a whole lot of humility with some in this movement. I’ve often wondered if some Christians in the modern Charismatic movement don’t realize how they sound or the image they portray. We must be humble. That was one of the first concerns I had with the movement. Paul was the least of all the saints, not the most (Ephesians 3:8). All biblical citations come from the King James Version [or other] unless otherwise noted.

Humility—Our Highest Priority

Humility is taught throughout the scriptures. Philippians 2:3–4 says, In lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than ourselves [not we better than them]. Many in the Charismatic movement have great faith and can teach us on that topic, and we know that without faith, it’s impossible to please God.

Once people receive this gift, something comes over them. We’ve all seen people who think they’re superior; you notice they have a certain air about them. (I don’t know if those in this movement would publicly admit this, though.) I’m talking in general terms because we’re all different.

I asked myself why some in the Charismatic movement act as if they have it together so much more than mainline Christians. Then I realized that much of it came down to definitions and biblical doctrine. When you look at the Corinthian church and all the problems its members had, it makes one wonder how anybody could be prideful.

I found a quote related to this in Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum’s booklet The Gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Two things should be noted about the Corinthian church. First, the Corinthian church was by far the most Pentecostal and Charismatic church on record in the New Testament. But secondly, it was also the most carnal church in the New Testament record. This clearly shows that spiritual gifts are simply grace gifts, which God gives. It does not mean that someone is spiritual because he has a certain gift.¹

The Importance of Doctrine

In 2 Timothy 3:16, we read, All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness. Have you ever wondered why doctrine is mentioned first in this text? If we don’t get the doctrine right, there will be errors down the line.

After many years of research, I believe this is the problem with the Charismatic movement. Tongues is tongues and baptism is baptism. They claim tongues or Spirit baptism is a second blessing that gives them power. Just as with doctrine, if we start with a false assumption, that leads to more errors down the line.

We’ll also look at other doctrines and spiritual gifts, things that accompany salvation. The more humanity’s will is inserted in doctrine, the more errors we’ll have.

Next, I will address how this isn’t a book condemning tongues or healing. You’ll think I’m condemning this movement at times, but I have pure motives and am only trying to see if it’s all biblically based. I believe these brothers and sisters in Christ have had a meaningful experience, and once they’ve had this feeling or manifestation, they look for verses to validate or justify it. Dr. Spiros Zodhiates addressed this in his book Corinthians Exegetical Commentary.

Do not judge the Word of God from any experience you may have had. The reality and genuineness of experience must be from the Word of God. If our own experiences were to become the criterion, the Bible would cease to be our absolute authority.²

Don’t have an experience and then try to justify it with the Word of God. It’s sort of like shutting the barn doors after the horses have already escaped. But I’ll show in this book that this is precisely what has happened in the modern Charismatic movement.

A good example of this is that no place in scripture tells us to seek a second blessing; just the opposite is taught. Ephesians 1:3 states, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. It’s not something we seek but something we have. He has already done it.

This is when I get a little worried about this movement. The Word of God is our umbrella that keeps demonic forces, false doctrines, and deception in general from raining on us. When we run ahead and take too much control of our lives, we get into trouble..

Filling and baptizing are different. We’re commanded to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18); it’s not an option. When we’re filled with anger, our anger controls us. (Boy, can we relate to that!) The same is true with being filled with the Spirit; the Spirit leads us in the same manner.

It’s interesting that none of the gifts is considered fruits of the Spirit. Paul is very careful to actually use the singular fruit of the Spirit not plural. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23). We know we’re filled with the Spirit because we’ll have the attributes mentioned above.

The purpose of this book is to convince you to slow down and analyze this movement as well as your personal beliefs to make sure they’re of God and not of humanity or Satan. I don’t know of anybody in the movement who has researched it first. We must study to show ourselves approved into God as a workman who needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15). The only way to do this is to set aside our opinions and those of our pastors and friends, start over, and see what God says in his Word.

Notes

1. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Ariel Ministries, 1985), 17.

2. Spiros Zodhiates, Corinthians, Exegetical Commentary (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 1983), 191.

Chapter 2

The Importance of Truth Seeking

We Must All Be Truth Seekers

I’m seventy-two, and I’ve met few truth seekers. Let’s be honest; many Christians—most Christians—aren’t really truth seekers. Most Christians just believe what they’ve been taught from an early age, which is good, but they’re not ready to give an account for the hope in them.

I was raised in a biblical based church. I went to church every Sunday and vacation Bible school every summer, and I heard the gospel often. I responded