Cessationism and Pentecostalism (Part IV) "The Psychology"

The catchline of an old commercial I used to see as a child has stayed with me over the years, you may remember it, at the end they stated, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste".  We will discover I think, it is also a difficult thing to understand. In preparation for this discourse, I read numerous articles from various psychological websites, both from religious and secular perspectives. My desire was to perhaps gain some insight into the seemingly strange behavior I encountered within Pentecostal circles. This obviously overlaps with some of our previous discussions. For instance, speaking in tongues, outside of Pentecostalism appears to be a bizarre behavior. What motivational forces lie behind an otherwise normal intelligent individual to cause him or her to leave their linguistic mode of communication and enter into a non-linguistic mode of vocalization? Those within Pentecostalism would say the Power of the Holy Ghost. However, in the minds of many, that is questionable. 

The first behavior we will discuss preceded our Pentecostalism, however, Pentecostalism has embraced it as a unique manifestation of their own claim of a fuller measure of God and spirituality. In spite of this claim, many of the behavioral manifestations they present as evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit we also find in Eastern religions and cults. Therefore, our quest for understanding the mind goes beyond the scope of Pentecostalism to a much broader range of behavior. I suppose our best approach would be to describe exactly what behavioral manifestations we are talking about.  

All churches have a liturgy that governs the way they do things and people generally know what to expect during the service. In my experience in Pentecostal circles, that expectation was to expect the unexpected. The understanding was you couldn't put God in a box, you were to let the Spirit move. The Scripture passage 1st Thessalonians 5:19 ESV (19)  "Do not quench the Spirit." was sometimes sighted to validate these behavioral manifestations. Albeit, in the scriptural context of that command no such understanding is suggested. 

One such behavioral practice I observed often was that of being "slain in the Spirit". This practice usually consisted of a minister or church leader touching a willing participant on the forehead or chest area during the later part of the service which was usually referred to as ministry time. Upon being touched, the participant would fall backward and what is called a catcher would catch them and gently lay them on the floor. A number of TV Evangelists practice this in dramatic form during their telecasts to obtain optimum attention.   

This behavior supposedly is a result of the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon this person. The minister's ability to do this is usually referred to as the anointing.  The state of awareness this person is placed in varies depending upon the experience. Some report to have been in some kind of trance totally unaware of their soundings, even seeing visions while others remain aware yet in a heightened state of spiritual ecstasy. I would give you a scriptural text for this practice but there isn't one. There is nothing like it recorded in scripture, either of a descriptive or prescriptive nature. Pentecostal supporters will sometimes give reference to accounts in scripture where individuals did fall or were unable to stand as a result of God's presence. However, none of those accounts describe this particular behavior or practice. 

I found myself a participant in this practice numerous times, and I was expecting to be zapped at any moment. In my experiences, I felt nothing while many around me were slain by this phenomenon. After inquiring why that might be to my Pastor, he told me I should simply yield to the minister and fall and let the catcher lay me on the floor. He then said I should lay there and let God minister to me. What "letting God minister to me" exactly meant I was not told. So I obeyed my Pastor and at the next opportunity, I yielded to the minister, was caught by the catcher, and was laid on the floor. I remained there for a great while trying to focus on God and asking Him to do whatever He was supposed to do. I was much aware of what was going on around me, so much so, it was hard to concentrate, while others were being zapped. Finally, I returned to my seat disappointed, confused, and feeling very unspiritual. I was left wondering why I was never able to experience God like these other people did.

One very troubling aspect of this came the next Sunday morning. I was a Sunday School teacher in a youth class. That morning in my class one young lady commented about observing my experience in that service. Her statement was that she had been skeptical of the reality of that experience. However, my influence in her life was such that having seen me fall under the power of God in that service convinced her of its reality. Sadly, I was too weak and naive to tell her I had experienced nothing. I didn't want to discourage her in what I saw then as spiritual growth in faith. To this day I regret having misled that young girl into that deception. It was not purposely done, but my own deception and confusion led to that damaging influence. I had to wonder how many others had done the same thing, and I was like this young girl, being deceived. That is one of the reasons I write articles such as this, hopefully, to help someone avoid such deception. 

This was but one event that began a long road of questioning what I believed and why. I will admit, that quest almost brought me to the point of despair with religion. At one time I wondered if true Christian doctrine could ever really be known. President Jefferson once said, "Question with boldness even the existence of God, because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than the blindfold of fear." - Thomas Jefferson. Question I did, and it brought me back to Scripture. Every doctrine must be weighed by that measure. 

Because we have no scripture to support this practice, we will have to approach it from another perspective. That application I believe is made from the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. That is the Latin phrase for Scripture alone. It is the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture that I believe should lead one to the Regulative principle of worship. The regulative principle of worship as opposed to the normative allows for only that which is clearly prescribed by Scripture. The observance of this principle even in a moderate sense helps keep the church safe from unorthodox practices such as this. Our Christian worship and practice should be what we see prescribed in our New Testament text. This practice cannot be supported by that principle. 

 

So how exactly are we to explain what causes people to exhibit such behavior when they ordinarily would not do so? The Pentecostal response of course would be the power of God. But that answer sets the course for some serious inquiry. If it is God, is He validating Eastern religions also? I was told in my circles the Eastern religions that do these things were simply counterfeits, they were demonic and copied Christianity and the power of the Holy Spirit. What the Pentecostal churches were doing were supposedly real manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit and what the Eastern religions were doing was nothing more than demons presenting a false experience. That is a good thought-stopping technique and was sufficient to stop me from inquiring for a while. However, I could not help but wonder about the other religions. Once you begin to look into their experiences, you find they are reporting similar experiences.

So what was happening to these people around me? They were my friends, brothers in Christ! I had known most of them my entire life. I knew their character, they certainly would not mislead me. I knew they loved God and wanted to obey him. This was very troubling and I simply couldn't understand what was going on. Why would they act this way, and report such experiences if God was not involved?

I knew it had to be real to them. A Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy statement suggested that such experiences "serves to reassure the believer of their growing closeness to God." I could understand why it would, but what were these experiences, and where were they coming from? Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy explained the reality of what they may be feeling this way. Using an example of embarrassment, "on this account will involve the thought (which may be simply entertained rather than asserted) that I have done something that will lower the regard in which I am held by others, where this thought gives rise to a feeling of a broadly negative nature, involving some sort of pain, discomfort or distress (and depending on the model, the particular character of this feeling may be taken to be relative to embarrassment or kindred emotions, or understood in more generic terms) (see Budd 1985, Chapter 1)." 

This I could understand, for this was a real experience. I knew embarrassment had caused a real physical manifestation in my body and I could feel it. Where did it come from? It came from my mind, a thought from my perception of others and how they perceived me.

This may not answer our questions fully, but it does open up the possibility that the mind is capable of producing real emotions and physical manifestations that can affect our behavior. If the mind can, by a simple thought cause one to blush, feel hot, uncomfortable, and even shake, could it not also produce these so call spiritual sensations that I was seeing in others around me? As I was brought to embarrassment, that same situation might not affect the person next to me and bring them the same embarrassment. From this I can conclude, I was not less spiritual than the other people, my mind was just not affected by the stimulation of the service as theirs was. What was being perceived as a touch from God could simply be an illusion created by stimulations of the mind.

We have already discussed in previous posts how the power of suggestion and placebo can affect us. By definition, "suggestion is a psychological process in which people are manipulated by a scene, an image, a word, or a situation." At the University of Washington, researchers gave a pill to a group of people and told them that it would improve their level of intelligence. In reality, it was a placebo, and it didn’t increase any cognitive ability whatsoever. Nevertheless, the participants’ state of alertness and attention increased, and they achieved better results on the tasks that the researchers gave them. If a group of students can experience such a level of behavioral change, would it be unreasonable to think a group of church members placed in a strongly suggestive situation could also experience a real behavioral change?

Please understand, we're not saying Christianity is to be experienced without emotion. We most certainly experience a variety of emotions in our Christian walk. The feeling that is experienced with the discovery of a wonderful truth and the feeling that is manipulated to produce an illusion are two different things. 

 

Nineteenth-century revivalist Charles Finney recognized the importance of such manipulation in the work he did, and he gave a clear theological explanation for the purely natural ways in which he controlled emotions. In his Lectures on revivals, he writes: “Almost all the religion in the world has been produced by revivals. God has found it necessary to take advantage of the excitability there is in mankind, to produce powerful excitements among them before he can lead them to obey.” He saw emotional excitement as essential to revival as well as a sign of spirituality: “There must be excitement sufficient to wake up the dormant moral powers, and roll back the tide of degradation and sin.” Finney frankly recognizes that this emotion was not at all supernatural. It was entirely natural, at the disposal of the preacher and listener but in essence, lead one to an experience with God: “There is nothing in religion beyond the ordinary powers of nature. It consists entirely in the right exercise of the powers of nature.” In our understanding today he might say powers of the mind. Indeed for Finney, “a revival is as naturally a result of the use of the appropriate means as a crop is of the use of its appropriate means.” Though Finney preceded Pentecostalism, he was a precursor to that movement. In his zeal to find an experience, he relates a moment of seeking God in the woods by describing a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost which he explained was “like a wave of electricity going through and through me…seemed to come in waves of liquid love.” This is the kind of language you find today in Pentecostal circles. Finny used these means of experiences to manipulate and achieve what he saw as success in evangelism, and it appears Pentecostalism is using them to achieve its behavioral manifestations. 

Some other behavior oddities I encountered would be a practice called "Fire tunnels". A fire tunnel is when a group of church members line up and make two rows facing each other. Participants will walk between the two rows while the members lay hands on them usually crying out "Fire!". Many times participants will fall while in the tunnel and supposedly experience the same sensation as the "slain in the spirit" participants. 

Impartation is another practice that occurs in some Pentecostal churches. Participants line up while the minister lays hands on them and imparts to them some special spiritual gift. Having received this gift generally brings the persons into the deception of thinking they have an ability they previously did not possess and are told to practice it and become more proficient in it. Obviously, when they try to operate in this gift unsuccessfully, they are instructed to not get discouraged and to keep practicing. These extremes are becoming the norm in many Pentecostal churches. They grew out of the older behavioral practices such as Jericho walks to things like foot washing. These older practices had lesser spiritual emphasis and were for the most part harmless. But once you open the door to extra-Biblical practices other things are waiting outside seeking to follow suit. 

There are extremes to these behavioral practices that I can't explain by these Placebo and suggestive methods, they go to a different level. I have seen some that are quite concerning. People go beyond just experiencing sensations and physically jerk and convulse violently, many times crying out in a frightening way. They report feeling pressure on their body and an inability to control their actions. Some even report seeing gold dust or angel feathers falling from the ceiling, I have a dear friend who claims to have seen such. They are told this is God and so they believe it to be so. What this is I don't know, it appears very similar to the demonic activity you read about in Scripture. It is very concerning. We have this command in Scripture,  1 John 4:1 ESV (1)  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

   

People involved in Eastern religions often give similar testimonies. They report feeling love and compassion for all that is and recognize themselves as an intrinsic part of all. This sounds very similar to what Finney described happened to him. Their body may shake and feel hot. People involved in these eastern religions demonstrate various physical healings just like those demonstrated in Pentecostal circles. Everything that glitters is not gold and every spiritual experience is not God. 

 In Acts 8:9-13 ESV we have the account of Simon, whatever he was doing that is translated as magic, had people convinced it was God. 

(9)  But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great.

(10)  They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.”

(11)  And they paid attention to him because, for a long time, he had amazed them with his magic.

(12)  But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

(13)  Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

Notice the signs and great miracles amazed even Simon; it was beyond what he was able to do. Today one can find no great distinction between what Pentecostalism is producing and what the Eastern regions are producing as far as testimonies and results. What is being presented by Pentecostalism falls far short of the actual gifts described and demonstrated in scripture. Some of the older Pentecostal circles present an orthodox gospel, but they brought the magic of Simon and the sensations of the Eastern religions into the church. They took scriptural phrases and eisogeted them into their practices. They took descriptive passages and use them as rules of behavior in Christian worship. As a result, the door was opened for the manipulation of men and perhaps even the influence of the demonic.  

If you are in a church where any of these things are occurring,  please take a moment to question what you are being taught and perhaps even experiencing. If what you are seeing or doing is not clearly stated in Scripture and the practice is easily understood without some attempt at eisegesis, you are in danger of stepping beyond the bounds of Christian worship.

Next time we will examine Historic Christianity in contrast to what is being presented today in these Pentecostal churches. 

David