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The Charismatic Phenomenon
The authors describe the purpose of the sign-miracles and revelatory gifts of New Testament times, and their precise nature. Were they intended to be ongoing in the life of the Church? Numerous questions are here answered, such as, ‘What exactly are the greater works of John 14.12?’ and ‘Are the signs following, referred to in Mark 16, for today?’ This work has been helpful to many thousands, having passed through numerous printings in English, and having been translated into many other languages.
- GenresTheology
113 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
Peter Masters
119 books19 followersPeter Masters has served as Minister of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in central London since 1970 and founded the evangelical newspaper Evangelical Times in 1967. He directs the School of Theology, an annual conference for pastors and Christian workers, and initiated the London Reformed Baptist Seminary in 1976, now offering online studies. Masters edits the international magazine Sword & Trowel, continuing the legacy of Charles Spurgeon, and has authored over 30 books translated into at least 28 languages. His sermons have been broadcast on UK and international channels, emphasizing regular Gospel preaching, ministerial separation from non-evangelical churches, cessationism regarding sign gifts, and opposition to Darwinism, supporting a young Earth creationist perspective.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 12, 2016
What did I like about this book?
1. It was short.
What did I dislike about this book? Oh let me count them!!
1. The authors' exegesis of the scriptures was appallingly bad! They constantly read their post-biblical doctrine, (Cessationism), into the text, twisting the text to mean something totally other than it did. And then they had the audacity to claim sola scriptura!!
2. Their lack of knowledge regarding Church history was clearly evidenced by their claims that miracles and sign-miracles ceased with the death of the apostles. (For a more informed look at miracles throughout the ages since the death of the Apostles see Jack Deere's "Surprised by the Voice of God" and Jeff Dole's "Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the history of the church").
3. Their caricatures of Charismatic and Pentecostal believers weren't just exaggerated as caricatures tend to be, they were GROSSLY exaggerated and downright SLANDEROUS!! They, like John MacArthur, painted Charismatics and Pentecostals with such broad brush strokes you'd think every last one of them were hell bound, carnal idiots.
4. They misrepresented a lot of the teachings, practices, and the experiences of Charismatics and Pentecostals.
5. They came across as arrogant, sanctimonious, and patronizing.
6. They continually made claims about the supernatural practices and experiences in Charismatic and Pentecostal circles that didn't not reflect reality. For example they left the reader with the impression that all tongue speakers became so due to manipulation and peer pressure from their fellow believers; they were told to engage in a variety of tricks to make it seem like God was causing them to speak in tongues. While this may be true in some places it is surely not characteristic of all or most tongue talkers. I have the gift and the way they described Charismatics and Pentecostals obtaining it didn't line up with how I or many others received it.
7. Their recommended standards by which to test if a miracle today was done by the Holy Spirit were absurdly high. They insisted that the miracles seen in parts of Christendom today can not be considered true, God inspired miracles because they aren't extraordinary significant i.e. raising the dead or seeing limbs grow out or blindness healed, etc.
First off that's just not true. Secondly, they seem to forget that the gospels and the New Testament show a variety of miracles over a broad spectrum from the healing of a fever to the raising of the dead.
8. Sloppy applications from the text. For example, the authors state things like, we don't know what Paul's thorn in the flesh was, "But God doesn't want us to know so we can more easily substitute our own physical handicap for Paul's example." (Pg 86)
I protest such a claim. If we truly don't know what Paul's thorn was, (which many well studied students of scripture do know what it was), how can we honestly and accurately substitute our physical handicaps for it?
9. The authors made a lot of accusations against Charismatic and Pentecostal preachers, ministers, and people of fraudulent practices and methods without providing evidence to support their charges.
If you're going to accuse people of fraud, like for example, of a Charismatic preacher putting mats on his stage so their congregates receiving prayer can feel an electrical current when they touch them, then have the basic decency to back such a charge up with more than a vague hear-say statement of "I heard..." Charging people with fraud is a serious matter and if you have an once of integrity you will back it up. (On a side note, I have felt electricity- like flow through me multiple times when ministers in various places, including my home church at the time, have prayed for me and there was no electric mats or other gizmos present.)
10. They basically said that anyone who believes God still does miracles today and is involved in the Charismatic movement testifying to the power of God healing them or being affecting them is due to being brainwashed. They use the word "conditioned." Yet again they offer no credible evidence to support such claims.
11. While it is true that some Charismatics and Pentecostals discourage loving God with our minds and using reason in our faith, these authors exalt the mind FAR above it's rightful place making an idol out of thought and rationalism. They obsessively promoted the idea that if God does something supernatural we will always understand it and it will always accompany a message from Him. This is just not true! Isaiah reminds us that God's ways and God's thoughts are high above ours (Isaiah 55:9)
12. They also made the ridiculous claims that if God does a miracle then everyone will embrace it as being from Him and no one would doubt it or refuse to believe it. They also put forth the utterly stupid notion that authentic miracles done by God's Spirit cannot be counterfeited. And they also promoted the worn out, silly belief that tongues must be interpreted to be authentic and that the only purpose of tongues is to communicate a message from God. (On that note they also claimed that no tongues these days have been showed to be real human languages, something that has been proven untrue time and time again. See "They Speak With Other Tongues" by John Sherrill, "Chasing the Dragon" by Jackie Pullinger and "The Walk of the Spirit" by David Robinson, as well as John Bevere's "Intimacy with the Holy Spirit" Dvd.
13. Finally they tried to paint Charismatics and Pentecostals in the poorest of light by repeatedly associating them with the occult and counterfeit groups with broad and vague generalizations.
In conclusion, I obviously cannot recommend this book! It's full of confirmation bias from start to finish.
1. It was short.
What did I dislike about this book? Oh let me count them!!
1. The authors' exegesis of the scriptures was appallingly bad! They constantly read their post-biblical doctrine, (Cessationism), into the text, twisting the text to mean something totally other than it did. And then they had the audacity to claim sola scriptura!!
2. Their lack of knowledge regarding Church history was clearly evidenced by their claims that miracles and sign-miracles ceased with the death of the apostles. (For a more informed look at miracles throughout the ages since the death of the Apostles see Jack Deere's "Surprised by the Voice of God" and Jeff Dole's "Miracles and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the history of the church").
3. Their caricatures of Charismatic and Pentecostal believers weren't just exaggerated as caricatures tend to be, they were GROSSLY exaggerated and downright SLANDEROUS!! They, like John MacArthur, painted Charismatics and Pentecostals with such broad brush strokes you'd think every last one of them were hell bound, carnal idiots.
4. They misrepresented a lot of the teachings, practices, and the experiences of Charismatics and Pentecostals.
5. They came across as arrogant, sanctimonious, and patronizing.
6. They continually made claims about the supernatural practices and experiences in Charismatic and Pentecostal circles that didn't not reflect reality. For example they left the reader with the impression that all tongue speakers became so due to manipulation and peer pressure from their fellow believers; they were told to engage in a variety of tricks to make it seem like God was causing them to speak in tongues. While this may be true in some places it is surely not characteristic of all or most tongue talkers. I have the gift and the way they described Charismatics and Pentecostals obtaining it didn't line up with how I or many others received it.
7. Their recommended standards by which to test if a miracle today was done by the Holy Spirit were absurdly high. They insisted that the miracles seen in parts of Christendom today can not be considered true, God inspired miracles because they aren't extraordinary significant i.e. raising the dead or seeing limbs grow out or blindness healed, etc.
First off that's just not true. Secondly, they seem to forget that the gospels and the New Testament show a variety of miracles over a broad spectrum from the healing of a fever to the raising of the dead.
8. Sloppy applications from the text. For example, the authors state things like, we don't know what Paul's thorn in the flesh was, "But God doesn't want us to know so we can more easily substitute our own physical handicap for Paul's example." (Pg 86)
I protest such a claim. If we truly don't know what Paul's thorn was, (which many well studied students of scripture do know what it was), how can we honestly and accurately substitute our physical handicaps for it?
9. The authors made a lot of accusations against Charismatic and Pentecostal preachers, ministers, and people of fraudulent practices and methods without providing evidence to support their charges.
If you're going to accuse people of fraud, like for example, of a Charismatic preacher putting mats on his stage so their congregates receiving prayer can feel an electrical current when they touch them, then have the basic decency to back such a charge up with more than a vague hear-say statement of "I heard..." Charging people with fraud is a serious matter and if you have an once of integrity you will back it up. (On a side note, I have felt electricity- like flow through me multiple times when ministers in various places, including my home church at the time, have prayed for me and there was no electric mats or other gizmos present.)
10. They basically said that anyone who believes God still does miracles today and is involved in the Charismatic movement testifying to the power of God healing them or being affecting them is due to being brainwashed. They use the word "conditioned." Yet again they offer no credible evidence to support such claims.
11. While it is true that some Charismatics and Pentecostals discourage loving God with our minds and using reason in our faith, these authors exalt the mind FAR above it's rightful place making an idol out of thought and rationalism. They obsessively promoted the idea that if God does something supernatural we will always understand it and it will always accompany a message from Him. This is just not true! Isaiah reminds us that God's ways and God's thoughts are high above ours (Isaiah 55:9)
12. They also made the ridiculous claims that if God does a miracle then everyone will embrace it as being from Him and no one would doubt it or refuse to believe it. They also put forth the utterly stupid notion that authentic miracles done by God's Spirit cannot be counterfeited. And they also promoted the worn out, silly belief that tongues must be interpreted to be authentic and that the only purpose of tongues is to communicate a message from God. (On that note they also claimed that no tongues these days have been showed to be real human languages, something that has been proven untrue time and time again. See "They Speak With Other Tongues" by John Sherrill, "Chasing the Dragon" by Jackie Pullinger and "The Walk of the Spirit" by David Robinson, as well as John Bevere's "Intimacy with the Holy Spirit" Dvd.
13. Finally they tried to paint Charismatics and Pentecostals in the poorest of light by repeatedly associating them with the occult and counterfeit groups with broad and vague generalizations.
In conclusion, I obviously cannot recommend this book! It's full of confirmation bias from start to finish.
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August 26, 2019happy to read expository book like this.
January 14, 2014
Helped me understand so much that was confusing before. Backed up with so many Bible verses in context.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews