Bethesda celebrates its 75th anniversary

Seventy-five years ago, in an old tire store on Nevada Avenue in Detroit, a mother of three started a Sunday School for her children and others in the neighborhood.

Tomorrow, more than 3,900 Sundays later, what has become the Bethesda Christian Church will celebrate all that God has done.

M. D. "Mom" Beall was the mother that started the Sunday School. She wasn't looking to pastor a mega-church, but that's what grew from her efforts. Over the decades, what was then known as, the Bethesda Missionary Temple, grew and grew without any of the church growth methods advocated today.

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According to her obituary in the Detroit News in September 1979:

"Membership in the tiny church, with Mrs. Beall as pastor, 'just exploded,' said her son, James. When the church grew out of its tiny quarters, Mrs. Beall's husband, a builder joined the project.

"'Dad was the builder; mother the pastor,' her son recalled."

Today, Bethesda is a suburban church in Sterling Heights, Michigan, seating 3,000. It is non-denominational, and can be characterized as Pentecostal or Charismatic (if by Pentecostal one means, practicing speaking in tongues, and if by Charismatic one means, operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit).

After revival broke out in Saskatchewan in 1948, Mom Beall traveled to Western Canada to see what it was all about. Specifically, she went to meetings in Vancouver where the revival had spread, as well.

She returned ablaze with revival fire, and her church in Detroit became one of centers of what became known as, the Latter Rain Movement. Other cities with prominent Latter Rain churches were Portland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Memphis, and Houston.

Like far too many Pentecostal revivals, pernicious error crept into some of the churches. The most pronounced of these errors was a doctrine called, The Manifest Sons of God. Proponents of that doctrine taught that it did not matter what they did in their mortal bodies, because they had been spiritually glorified. Mom Beall and her children, who all followed her into the ministry, were grieved by such erroneous teaching and withstood it completely.

To my knowledge, the definitive work on the Latter Rain Movement is Dr. Richard Riss's, The Latter Rain Movement of 1948.

Balanced Biblical teaching and spontaneous, anointed praise and worship have been hallmarks of church life at Bethesda. In fact, the late Judson Cornwall, known for his teaching on praise and worship, stood in Bethesda's pulpit once and told the congregation, "I'm not sure why you've asked me to preach on praise and worship. The first time I ever heard the kind of praise and worship that I teach about, I was listening to a tape recording of this congregation." The beauty and harmony of Bethesda's spontaneous worship has been compared to a "heavenly choir" by many that have visited the church.

As noted, Mom Beall passed away in 1979. Her eldest, Patricia Gruits, is in her 80s now, but remains active in teaching and missions ministries. Her book, Understanding God, is a best-seller read worldwide.

The son quoted in the obituary, James Beall, went on to become one of the best-loved speakers in the charismatic movement of the 1970s. From articles in the Logos Journal to speaking at major events like the World Conference on the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem to teachings delivered to Roman Catholic charismatic audiences, James was in the thick of things. He wrote several books, including Laying the Foundation, a methodical teaching on the Christian life using Hebrews 6 as its springboard. He assumed both the pastorate of Bethesda and the microphone of the national radio broadcast, America to Your Knees, from his mother. After decades in Bethesda's pulpit he retired from daily ministry in 2004. He is seen in the photograph above, commissioning his daughter, Analee Dunn, to the senior pastorate.

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The youngest of the three, Harry Beall Jr., was for years Bethesda's minister of music and treasurer, in addition to ministering the Word there and in congregations throughout the United States. Now retired from Bethesda's ministry, he lives in Mesa, Arizona.

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I salute and thank Bethesda, its congregation and ministers, for 75 years of faithful service. Enjoy your celebration tomorrow!

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Bethesda's website can be accessed here. The bulletin for tomorrow's service can be seen here.

REVIEWED: "Simply Christian"

By Jon Rising
Ministry Today magazine, July/August 2006

Your friend tells you he is going to write a book of apologetics and Christian theology that will — in 240 pages — answer satisfactorily how it is that the Christian faith is reasonable, then go on to explain the continuity of the Christian message across the two testaments, before winding up with explanations of the Trinity, baptism, the canon of Scripture and life in the Spirit.

You avert your eyes from making contact with his. You shift your weight uneasily. You know he is biting off more than he can chew. Unless, of course, your friend is the Bishop of Durham, England, N.T. Wright.

One is tempted to say that Wright's Simply Christian — sure to become a classic — is his magnum opus. Simply the ability to elucidate such critical philosophical and theological themes in short compass would earn that praise. However, Wright already has a magnum opus. The bishop, 57, is best known for his multi-volume work on the New Testament, Christian Origins and the Question of God. It is a work of first-rate scholarship that has earned much acclaim.

But, as he has shown in Simply Christian, Wright knows how to distill the fruits of scholarship for a popular audience. He has done the same in his commentary series, The New Testament for Everyone (written under the name Tom Wright).

There is not a lull in the book — no dissatisfying sections. There are very high moments, though. In the chapter on beauty, the Anglican Wright will have Pentecostal readers coming out of their seats shouting. A sense of worship will be stirred as he deftly explains the Incarnation. And all should marvel as he unpacks the genius of the biblical narrative.

The rich texture God's wisdom calls for the reading and writing of many books (Wright has penned more than 40 himself), but a person who might be exposed to just one Christian tome would be well served by this one.

Strang Communications 2006

A video of Wright lecturing about Simply Christian at the National Cathedral in Washington D. C.  can be seen here.

Gordon Fee pens new commentary

A spokesperson for Eerdmans Publishing Company confirmed for Word & Spirit that Gordon Fee's commentary on the Thessalonian letters is scheduled for release in July.

Fee's volume will replace in the New International Commentary on the New Testament series the volume written by Leon Morris.

Roger Olson critiques Pentecostalism

Not every critque of the Pentecostal movement is friendly or irenic. Roger Olson's is.

Olson is a professor of theology at Baylor University's George W. Truett Theological Seminary and a prolific writer (his The Story of Christian Theology, for instance, is a treasure).

He has also spoken in tongues and was, in fact, raised in a Pentecostal home. But, he is Pentecostal no longer. The anti-intellectualism of the movement was one of the factors that drove him away.

Olson's critique of the Pentecostal movement was printed in The Christian Century in 2006, the 100th anniversary of the modern Pentecostal movement.

His comments that specifically addressed Pentecostal anti-intellectualism went this way:

"Endemic to Pentecostalism is a profoundly anti-intellectual ethos. It is manifested in a deep suspicion of scholars and educators and especially biblical scholars and theologians. Yes, there are some Pentecostal scholars who are respected outside the movement: Russell Spittler served as a dean at Fuller Theological Seminary for years; Gordon Fee taught New Testament at Regent College in Vancouver and produced highly regarded volumes in biblical studies; Amos Yong holds a Ph.D. from Boston University and teaches in the doctoral program at Regent University Graduate School of Divinity. Yet too many Pentecostal leaders hold even their own scholars at arms length and view them with suspicion. Merely being a member of the Society for Pentecostal Studies often brings a Pentecostal scholar’s commitment to the movement into question.

"This is without doubt the main reason I drifted away from the movement and eventually broke from it. I was not satisfied with the pat answers I was given by my mentors and teachers to questions I had about Pentecostal doctrines and practices ....

"Not all Pentecostals are anti-intellectual or revel in incoherence. But a deep antipathy to critical rationality applied to theology is a hallmark of the movement. Too often spiritual abuse in the form of shame is directed at those, especially young people, who dare to question the teachings of highly placed Pentecostal ministers and evangelists.

"I was one of the first Open Bible members to attend seminary and, like most Pentecostals who did that, I left the movement. I felt pushed out for wasting my time on intellectual pursuits rather than becoming a missionary or evangelist. Today evangelical seminaries are full of Pentecostal youths. Many of them still find doors closed when they return to their home denominations for ordination or for leadership positions in churches. Pentecostal scholars too often have to work outside Pentecostal institutions and live in the shadows and on the margins of the movement.

"Shaking off this anti-intellectual attitude won’t be easy for the movement; it is part of Pentecostalism’s DNA. A good beginning would be to draw those Pentecostal scholars who work on the margins into the movement’s centers of power and leadership. Honest and open dialogue between Pentecostal leaders and the movement’s own intellectuals -- with promises there will be no negative consequences -- could help shake off some of the mutual suspicion and fear that haunts their relationships. And Pentecostal leaders need to pledge never again to subject eager, faithful and intellectually inclined young people to shame merely for asking tough questions about Pentecostal distinctives."

The full article entitled, "Pentecostalism's Dark Side", can be read here.

Zondervan has published a book that addresses anti-intellectualism in the Pentecostal movement. Assemblies of God missionary Rick Nanez is the author of "Full Gospel, Fractured Minds?" My review of Nanez' book was published in 2006 in Ministry Today magazine. That review can be read here (readers will need to scroll down that linked page to get to the review).

Oh-so-quotable

"When John stood up after his encounter with the risen Lord, I suspect he was more fully John than ever before. Why? Knowing Papa does that to you. You become yourself by knowing Him as He really is," Larry Crabb in The Papa Prayer (Integrity).

"The gospel is both gift and demand. It is a divine call to both forgiveness and discipleship. It invites us both to 'come and dine' and to 'come and die,'" Larry Hart in Truth Aflame (Zondervan).

"Preaching parables is not the only way to preach to a postmodern. However, as a story it has an appeal to a worldview that rejects the larger story of life but is open, indeed curious, about the smaller stories. The preacher looks for ways to seed the Word. The use of parables is such a way," Brian Stiller in Preaching Parables to Postmoderns (Fortress Press).

"If Christians today were to learn discernment in large numbers, most television evangelists would go out of business!" Simon Chan in Spiritual Theology (InterVarsity Press).

"Like other recent Pentecostal and charismatic scholars such as Gordon Fee and former cessationist Jack Deere, I believe the position that supernatural gifts have ceased is one that no Bible reader would hold if not previously taught to do so," Craig Keener in Gift & Giver (Baker Academic).

"Although there is honest disagreement among Christians about the vailidity of tongues today, I personally cannot find any biblical justification for saying the gift of tongues was meant exclusively for New Testament times," Billy Graham in The Holy Spirit (Thomas Nelson).

Fee and Hubbard publishing new book

Renowned scholars Gordon Fee (left) and Robert Hubbard Jr. have compiled The Eerdmans Companion to the Bible and according to the publisher it will be released in October.

Fee is professor emeritus of New Testament studies at Regent College in Vancouver. A profile of his career was published on this blog last July 8.

This week, Regent is airing an audio lecture series by Fee on its internet broadcasting arm, Regent Radio. The 11-lecture series, The Holy Spirit in Pauline Theology, is based on his massive study on that subject, published in book form as, God's Empowering Presence. The syllabus for the lecture series is available here.

Earlier this month, his commentary on Galatians won an award from The Foundation for Pentecostal Scholarship. Also in April, Zondervan posted a video on YouTube where Fee notes that his favorite modern author is Bishop N. T. Wright.

Hubbard (right), professor of Old Testament at North Park Theological Seminary, is best known for his well-received commentary on the book of Ruth, as well as, his contribution to Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (Thomas Nelson), co-authored with Craig Blomberg and William Klein. A video of Hubbard discussing his forthcoming commentary on Joshua can be seen here.

Baptism ... hell ... evolution

Like well-trained professionals in many areas of society, Christian ministers have a lot of information to cover. It is reasonable to expect that they will show ignorance on topics from time to time.
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However, there are three areas where I have observed ignorance far too often; areas where a minister should be, at the very least, conversant with major theories. Those areas are: baptism, hell, and evolution. I would go so far as to say, ordination should be withheld from someone who cannot find their way around the landscapes of these issues.
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Baptismal controversies are numerous, of course (e.g., mode, purpose, formula, candidacy). Most ministers I have met are at least knowledgeable about the position their fellowship holds on those points. However, it seems a much smaller group of the same ministers is prepared to explain where baptism even came from.
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Seriously, what is John the Baptist doing standing in the Jordan River, calling people to a rite that appears to be without antecedent in the pages of Scripture? Where did he get the idea that that was the right thing to do? This is the type of inquiry that can get a poorly-trained pastor's defensive side to show (not a manifestation that will aid in parishioner-pastor bonding).
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There is a brand new resource on baptism that should make it onto the bookshelf of every minister: Baptism in the Early Church: History, Theology, and Liturgy in the First Five Centuries (Eerdmans). It is written by noted church historian, Everett Ferguson. With a serious work like this, I think it is more meaningful to you that I provide the endorsement of one of the author's peers. In this case, Ferguson's work gets the hearty endorsement of Scot McKnight over on his blog:
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"This book is not innovative; it is not an attempt to argue a brand-new theory; it's an examination of what can be known from the ancient evidence about baptism. For years I have always gone to G. R. Beasley-Murray's justifiably well-known book on baptism (Baptism in the New Testament). I will now go first to Ferguson's magnum opus."
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Having read Ferguson, you may conclude that we still don't really know where John's impetus to water baptize came from, but if that is your conclusion, you will be able to share it comfortably with others --- without the awkwardness of being caught flat-footed, and avoiding the temptation to make the questioner feel they have asked a pointless question.
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HELL
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It can be successfully argued, of course, that a minister may go his entire career without ever being asked the question I raised about baptism (that, of course, does not negate the notion that he, or she, should be informed on the topic). Hell ... well, that's a different story.
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I was raised in a fundamentalist church where hell --- and a certain depiction of it --- was a given. It is hot. Very hot. And though enveloped in its flames, its occupants do not perish. Ever.
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I was well into adulthood when I first heard a minister in our circle of fellowship suggest anything otherwise. He put forth the idea that hell was a sort of inky, black darkness where one was tormented, not by horrific heat, but by utter loneliness and deep regret.
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Others feel souls in hell will eventually extinguish, simply cease to exist. Going further still, well-respected British theologian John Wenham found the idea of hell noxious.
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"I believe that endless torment is a hideous and unscriptural doctrine which has been a terrible burden on the mind of the church for many centuries and a terrible blot on her presentation of the gospel. I should indeed be happy if, before I die, I could help in sweeping it away," Wenham wrote in Facing Hell: The Story of a Nobody (Paternoster Press).
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You may say Wenham is all wet. You may wonder what the minister with the inky, black darkness does with the Lake of Fire. But, if you are a minister, at the end of all the to-ing and fro-ing, you need to speak intelligently to the subject of hell. You owe that to your listeners.
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All three of my children have heard me say that religious ideas are the most powerful ideas in the world. And the potency of this one is almost immeasurable. It must be reckoned with.
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Getting your hands on material discussing hell is easy enough. But, I want to suggest two references for you.
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Four Views on Hell (Zondervan) is part of the Counterpoints series by that publisher. I personally delight in the format that has biblical scholars and theologians putting forth their ideas, and having them responded to. The participants in this book are John Walvoord (literal view), William Crockett (metaphorical), Zachary Hayes (purgatorial), and Clark Pinnock (conditional).
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I do understand that not everyone likes debate on theological issues; to some, it seems like an exercise in intellectual vanity. On an issue like hell, however, I think the body of Christ is well served by an open airing of disparate views.
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The foreward to the book adds weight to my concerns, "So disturbing is the idea of hell that most pastors and church members simply ignore the doctrine of final retribution, preferring to talk in vague terms about a separation of the wicked from the righteous.
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"But what is hell? A literal place of fire and smoke? A banishment from God? Annihilation? Is there such a place as purgatory where people are readied for the presence of God? In this book four professors describe in non-technical language what they think the final judgment will be like, and then at the end of each chapter, they evaluate the opinions of their colleagues ....
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"Although the authors differ sharply on some points, they do so in a congenial spirit, with the hope that the arguments in this book will help readers to form their own opinions."
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Earlier this month, I provided the link to the other resource I am recommending, and it warrants re-posting. Wheaton College professor Douglas Moo has posted online a paper on the apostle Paul's teachings on hell. It can be read here.
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EVOLUTION
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Of these three areas where there is often lamentable ignorance, Darwinian evolution is perhaps the most understandable. There is much, much more ground to cover than the other two.
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Now, so well-publicized is the commotion about evolution, that I won't belabor readers with much introduction. But, it does bear mentioning why I make the case that it is imperative that ministers be informed in this area.
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Firstly, it escapes me how one can adequately teach on the first three chapters of Genesis without interacting with the claims of the proponents of evolution. I am convinced that obscurantism is unbecoming to modern evangelical believers.
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Secondly, the atheistic evolutionary posture strides back-and-forth like a modern-day Goliath, defying the army of the Lord. It is no small challenge being issued. The veracity of our worldview is belittled as preposterous; held to only by a silly, superstitious people. It would hardly come from a "renewed mind." Like David, it is incomprehensible to me that we should shrink from this battle.
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As with the topic of hell, above, finding material on evolution is as easy the proverbial "shooting fish in a barrel." However, I would like to suggest ideally that ministers read from each of the main perspectives on evolution so that they can arrive at a critically informed judgment. In that regard, I am recommending works that I have handled and have found profitable.
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ATHEISTIC EVOLUTIONARY VIEW ... Eugenie Scott's Evolution vs. Creationism (Greenwood Press) provides her take on the history of the controversy. She says her aim was to provide "one-stop shopping" for those wishing to read on the "historical, legal, educational, political, scientific, and religious perspectives ...." Clear and combative, the book is a good apologetic for its viewpoint. [Doubts about Darwin (Baker) surveys the same history from a theistic point-of-view.]
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INTELLIGENT DESIGN VIEW ... Understanding Intelligent Design (Harvest House) by William Dembski and Sean McDowell is a helpful 233-page primer for those who are looking for a quick read.
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THEISTIC EVOLUTION ... Francis Collins, the leader of the ground-breaking Human Genome Movement, presents both his faith in God and his belief in theistic evolution in The Language of God (Free Press). It is sure to make the adherents of both atheism and creationism squirm.
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CREATIONISM ... Scientific Creationism by Henry Morris is one of the seminal works for this point-of-view.
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THREE VIEWS IN DIALOGUE ... As with the Zondervan Counterpoints book on hell (above) Three Views on Creation and Evolution allows scholars to set out their views, and then receive responses from their colleagues. The contributors are: Paul Nelson and John Mark Reynolds (young earth creationism), Robert Newman (progressive creationism), and Howard Van Till (theistic evolution).
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With so much reading to do, you can see one of the reasons for my belief that the research should be done before one enters busy full-time ministry. But the issue is not small and neither should be our investment of time.