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Warnings from 1973 (L)

 
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Post Warnings from 1973 (L) sheepdogandy
https://ifphc.wordpress.com/2017/12/14/nine-trends-in-pentecostal-churches-an-observation-and-warning-from-1973/

How accurate would one say his concerns were?

How many have come to pass?
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5/18/18 9:23 am


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Post Wow! Aaron Scott
The seventh trend is an overemphasis on demon power. Brewster cautioned against attributing every problem to demons, which gives undue recognition to the devil, who is “already a defeated foe.”


This is the only one I disagree with. I think that we actually went in the opposite direction, attributing much our ills to poor decisions, weakness of the flesh, etc. In other words, I don't hear of the devil being blamed nearly so much as he used to be. However, this change is actually the most dangerous, I think! Yes, you can give too much credit to the devil, but when you start ignoring him altogether, he operates in stealth mode, all to our hurt.




The ninth trend, which Brewster also identified as very dangerous, is to think that education can be a substitute for the call of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Oh, yeah! I love and appreciate education. But many of the most effective evangelists of yesteryear would be almost looked down upon for their lack of academic credentials. Some of the greatest pastors of our youth might have had little in the way of scholarship, but a whole lot in the way of Word.

The intention is noble, I believe. But it fails to take into consideration that God call whom He will. Education is helpful, but too often "theological" education is NOT an education about the Word of God, but rather an education in what OTHERS say or think about the Word of God. We can immerse ourselves in higher criticism, be able to quote all sorts of great theologians, yet be virtually ignorant of the real Word of God.

If we aren't careful, we will "school" the spirit passion of called men right out of the Church of God.



The other one I noted was a deemphasis on evangelism. We no longer have state teams, in some states (maybe all). In fact, I can think of a grand total of TWO evangelists in all of Florida (I'm sure there are more). But back in the day, there were a number on the state team, as well as an even greater number that worked as evangelists in the state. This has been gone for YEARS now...and so, too, have the many good revivals one could hear and read about in those days.
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5/18/18 11:19 am


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Post Cojak
Good points Aaron, especially the Evangelists. My short time 3-4 years in Missouri I remember the larger states paying and sending their evangelists to smaller churches in what we called then 'mission states'.

My memory of the blessings when a YOUNG Carl Hart and his lovely wife came to our little church in Moberly. He preached his heart out, and we were so blessed to think someone cared outside Moberly. That was probably 1961-62.

Carl was with A Florida team. NC, SC and GA also had teams they sent out.

To the OP: Not pointing out any one trend, but some are natural trends and not necessarily a spiritually downward trend. I do not think as a whole Pentecostals 'smile at SIN' especially the SINS specifically listed in scripture, i.e. Adultery, murder, tale-bearing and gossip etc.

We have due to society changed opinions on:Clothing, jewelry, perms, stockings sleeves etc.
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5/18/18 5:35 pm


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Post MoonWalkingWithJesus
Very good read
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6/2/18 11:34 pm


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Post Re: Wow! Link
Aaron Scott wrote:
The seventh trend is an overemphasis on demon power. Brewster cautioned against attributing every problem to demons, which gives undue recognition to the devil, who is “already a defeated foe.”


This is the only one I disagree with. I think that we actually went in the opposite direction, attributing much our ills to poor decisions, weakness of the flesh, etc. In other words, I don't hear of the devil being blamed nearly so much as he used to be. However, this change is actually the most dangerous, I think! Yes, you can give too much credit to the devil, but when you start ignoring him altogether, he operates in stealth mode, all to our hurt.


If you are talking about the larger Pentecostal and Charismatic movement, I think the problem got a lot bigger, probably, after he wrote this article. Think about the approaches to so-called 'spiritual warfare', where you are supposed to be able to know what principalities are over a city by looking at symptoms, and then bring about some kind of transformation in the city by yelling at all the principalities over the city. In Indonesia, this so-called 'spiritual warfare' stuff influenced Bethel, which is part of the COG. There were people who would say they were doing 'spiritual warfare prayer' and then talk to principalities. I don't see the apostles doing this sort of thing.

And if you cast out all the demons out of a city and the people don't get saved, then why wouldn't the demons come back with 7 times as many spirits more wicked than themselves?
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6/3/18 10:31 pm


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Post MoonWalkingWithJesus
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6/4/18 1:57 pm


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