Pentecostalism and the Four Square Gospel.
Pentecostalism differs from Christian Science, for it accepts the Word of God and
believes
the Scriptural testimony concerning the Person and work of Christ. Its danger lies
rather in the fact
that it is undispensational. Christians who would repudiate Christian Science in
all its forms are not necessarily proof against Pentecostalism, for the majority
have been brought up in the tradition that 'the church' began at Pentecost. This
we have touched upon on page 31.
The leader of one very great Pentecostal organization is Mrs. McPherson. Like many
other
leaders of unscriptural cults Mrs. McPherson holds a high opinion of herself. In
the early editions of the book, 'This is that', she speaks of herself as follows
:
'Then I looked and, behold, a new creation, as of a beautiful woman ... Her lips were
pure and
dropped as the honeycomb ... Her ears were kept for His alone, her lover, her bridegroom,
her king. As she drew nigh I gazed with amazement into her face and saw that it
was myself. I heard the voice of the Master speaking unto me, saying, 'This is my
beloved'.
Scripture is definite and clear with regard to the headship of woman in spiritual
things (1
Cor. chapters 11 and 14; 1 Tim. 2:12-14).
Mrs. McPherson claims that her movement is the fulfilment of Joel's prophecy of the
latter
rain. Divine healing is to the fore in these meetings, and also the baptism of the
Spirit, accompanied by speaking with tongues and other manifestations. Here is an
extract which deals with the question from the writings of Dean Clifton L. Fowler
of Denver, Colorado :
'I sent to Los Angeles and got all her printed material -- books, pamphlets and tracts.
I also
subscribed to her magazine, ordering back numbers for a year ... Mrs. Fowler, or my
secretary,
attended nearly every meeting (held in Denver). We also attended the "tarrying meetings"
for the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. We were present at a thousand or more of her "healings";
we investigated a large number of them; we heard her preach over and over again.
I am compelled to give it as my calm, unbiassed judgment that outside of perhaps
Mrs. Eddy, there has not been so dangerous a religious teacher in the United States in the
past three hundred years. She talks about the blood very much, but when you hear
her say, "salvation and healing are both by works", then you realise that "the blood"
has very little power in her message. Her constant use of "the blood" is but a parrot-like
repetition of a familiar religious phrase. It has neither significance nor weight
in her plan of salvation. She talks very much about the "Holy Spirit" and about
being "born again", but when she boldly declares before 14,000 people in the City Auditorium
that "the holy spirit has nothing to do with the new birth or being born again" then
the time has come for the child of God who knows his Bible to refuse to be identified with so wicked and unscriptural a movement ... . She said she believed in the
inspiration of the Bible from cover to cover, but she plainly showed that she did
not believe the Bible in three different ways :
First. She said, "Paul is the only writer of the Bible with whom I disagree".
Secondly. In her printed writings which are at my office, she claims to put forth
writings of
which she is not the author, but which were given to her when she was "entirely under
the power of the spirit". This is most subtle. She rejects Paul's words and then
writes messages which are equal with inspiration ... . She gets her visions and
revelations from the same place all the other false teachers get theirs ...
Thirdly. She mangles the parts of Scripture she does use until they suit her purpose.
I could
give you enough examples of her twisting Scripture to fill a dozen letters, but I
must content myself with one or two. Here is one she uses over and over again --
Matt. 10:7,8. In the first place the passage has absolutely nothing to do with the
preaching of this age. It has to do with the preaching of the kingdom when Jesus was here
and is predictive of the preaching of the kingdom during the great tribulation immediately
before He comes again. To force Matt. 10 into this age is to disobey 2 Tim. 2:15
-- "Rightly dividing the Word of Truth". Since she has decided to tear this passage
out of a Jewish age and compel us to live under it, she has to doctor it up to suit
herself. Here is the way she always quoted it -- (vs. 8):
"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye have received, freely
give".
Now get down your Bible and see what she did to the verse. She left out, "raise the
dead".
She had an exceedingly good reason for leaving it out. She not only leaves those
words out when she is preaching, but they are left out of the passage when she quotes
it in her printed literature. I charge her with handling the Word of God deceitfully
and consequently leading thousands astray.
But someone says, "You could not expect her to raise the dead". To which I must
respond, "I beg your pardon. If that passage means this age, as she claims it does,
then she has got to raise the dead, or the Bible is false! ... ".
There is another passage which she uses almost constantly. It is Mark 16:17. She
juggles this Scripture in the very same way she does the Matthew passage. She always
reads it thus :
"These signs shall follow them that believe; in My Name they shall cast out demons,
they shall speak with new tongues, they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall
recover".
Get your Bible again, and see how she tricked her audiences. She deliberately cuts
out the
words:
"They shall take up serpents and if they shall drink any deadly thing it shall not
hurt
them ... ".
The result of this wicked teaching is grievous. Cases are on record where young men
and
women remained all night in the meeting-house piled upon the floor. Many are the
cases of terrible
immorality and broken homes ... . Other cases are on record of insanity and death
resulting from
receiving "the Baptism of the Holy Spirit".
Suffice it to say the horrid unscriptural thing which this woman teaches poor, earnest,
deluded Christians to seek is the incoming of demons and not the baptism of the Holy
Spirit'.
Here is the testimony of Dr. W.P.White, of the Extension Department of the Moody Bible
Institute of Chicago :
'Two Pastors of Eugene, Oregon, listened to Price tell of the great miracles wrought
by Mrs.
McPherson. Then he said, "You do not have to go to Los Angeles to see a miracle wrought.
There is a man who lives five and a half miles north of this place, who, when he
came on to the platform for healing at Albany, had a frightful cancer. The smell
was almost unbearable. His face was so eaten away by cancer that you could see his
teeth. I prayed over him and he was healed. There is now only a little red spot
left where the cancer was, and that is fast disappearing. If you want to see for
yourself, go and see". The two Pastors took Price at his word and drove out to the man's home.
His wife came to the door, and when she heard of their mission said, "yes, hallelujah,
my husband is healed". When they went into the house the smell was terrible. The
husband came from another room with a bath-towel on his shoulders on which the cancer
had been running. His face was consumed so that you could not only see his teeth,
but also his jaw bone. Using one side of his mouth he cried, "yes, hallelujah, Price
prayed for me and I am healed!" The poor man had been so hypnotised that he believed
that he was healed when he was dying with cancer!'
The writer gives another case of a supposed cure of blindness, and concludes by saying
:
'l can get a hundred such testimonials from godly people in every town where Mrs.
McPherson or Price has been'.
We are indebted for the testimony of Dean Fowler and Dr. White to the booklet written
by
Rev. W. E. Pietsch*.
* Originally published by The Bible Witness, Runnimede, Hounslow, Middlesex.