Evangelicals
Many evangelical churches are good at outreach while many Pentecostal churches are not, the latter being more inward, devotional and exclusive. There should be more Evangelicals in Pentecostal churches and more Pentecostals in Evangelical churches, not trying to rock the boat, that is the way that it was intended. The problem that most evangelicals have is the false doctrine of "evidence" associated with the gift of tongues, it has created a division that keeps the two separate. That and the idea that tongues are for everybody. Serious problem, of course, with evangelicals trying to do outreach without the full power and the Pentecostals with another part of the power scaring them off with a false premise, it has done untold damage.
Evangelicalism became sectarian in the denominating influence that binds them together as Evangelicals. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit would take them out of the ignorance of the spirit filled life but most teachers tell them that they need nothing but simple salvation and they already have the fullness of the spirit. Going down the aisle in a conservative church and renouncing the world and accepting Jesus is not the same as repentance and receiving the fulness of the Holy Ghost. Walking in the spirit and not the flesh means that you do more than accept Jesus as your own personal Savior, it means that you are willing to make Him Lord of your life and exhibiting the fruits as well as the charisms. This is taught already intellectually but by rejecting the charismatic power of the Holy Ghost, the Evangelicals comprise much of the company of the five foolish virgins who did not fill their lamps with oil. By not understanding initial justification and sanctification as a process, they teach that they are all saints and will avoid judgment. More than any Christian group save the heretics, they need to wake up before Babylon falls.
Evangelicals as a group believe they are working out patterns of unity which are in keeping with the Scriptures and producing forms of visible unity. There are obviously loving members in the group but generally, it is only within their own particular schismatic viewpoints. Evangelization, whose handmaid theology is, should be the demonstration of love in practice, not the mere enunciation of a message. Biblically, no message is valid unless it is made true in practice and that includes the social gospel, which most reject.
This was written by A. W. Tozer:
Our only hope is that renewed spiritual pressure will be exerted increasingly by self-effacing and courageous men who desire nothing but the glory of God and the purity of the church. May God send us many of them. They are long overdue. (Of God and Men, 16-18)
It is mainly the Conservative Evangelicals that transformed the word liberal into an evil. The lack of true spirituality and liberality is a form of self-destruction that began with puritanism, the prosperity doctrine and the desire for wealth. Because they have been taught that gain is godliness for so long, this self-righteous materialism destroyed the evangelical movement from within. Illiberal and deceived themselves, they still try to deceive others into accepting their own brand of intolerance and capitalist right-wing oppression. The emphasis of righteousness turns into legalism, grace is taken out of context, and the Bible is used as a club against their prey. They say they value the truths of the Bible and then refuse full gospel teaching. Those of this group that are truly led by His Spirit and not part of the white-wash must allow the Holy Spirit to transform their church into true revival or get out before it is too late.
The evangelicals have the truth of the Holy Spirit as to initial conversion and can use it to allow the Lord to effect salvation in others. You can recognize the anointing of truth with a watered down gospel but since it rejects a pentecostal experience, it turns out to be half truth. We already know that God has given us a variety of gifts. Evangelical fundamentalists will accept teachers, pastors and evangelists but as a whole will not accept the five-fold ministry because if they deny the gift of tongues being for today then they will also deny the gifts of prophecy and apostleship. This is the ignorance that I see taught:
Evangelicals have the Holy Ghost but in small measure, they deny the baptism which is complete immersion. And they have the trinity right, that is of course very important. To get out of Babylon does not mean that you leave the church, just the confusion.
Historically the Evangelicals as a group began as Lutheran but became more Calvinistic. For the present time, the denunciations that should be directed are not the evangelistic groups but the conservative right-wing groups that come under the banner Evangelicals. This is a good place to get the milk of the word but not the meat. Evangelicals with the conservative mentality will generally resist the spirit filled life if confined to their own fundamentalist teachings. The gospel will never return void but the worst of the Evangelicals have quenched the spirit and lapsed into puritan ignorance. It is a case of the blind leading the blind, yet to hear them tell it, they have the only light.
Within the last quarter of a century we have actually seen a major shift in the beliefs and practices of the evangelical wing of the church so radical as to amount to a complete sellout; and all this behind the cloak of fervent orthodoxy. With Bibles under their arms and bundles of tracts in their pockets, religious persons now meet to carry on "services" so carnal, so pagan, that they can hardly be distinguished from the old vaudeville shows of earlier days. And for a preacher or a writer to challenge this heresy is to invite ridicule and abuse from every quarter.
As long as the evangelicals or any fundamentalist group deny the power and validity of any of the gifts of the Holy Spirit or of the members of the body of Christ, or exalt any of the gifts above another, they will not be part of what God is preparing us for toward unity. We could invite them but you know that they will only oppose us as they have been, they are all alone in their own little unity and that the truth ends with them. They will teach and preach of the power of the Holy Ghost but if it is not in power, then the flesh will take control. They are so close to full gospel but always hold back due to the false teaching and quenching of the spirit. I cannot tell you why unless it is the same old story again of pride getting in the way. They have had the dominating influence in the church for so long that they will not accept what we have to say, it is as simple as that. It interferes with their sphere of influence.
[51, 114, 172, Babylon and the evangelicals were a topic of the latter rain discussion list.]
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