SCRIPTURE AS HISTORY

During last Sunday’s sermon on “Intimacy with God”, Walding presented a literal survey of women in the bible who had experienced “barrenness.” Their childlessness was interpreted as metaphorical of the barren womb of an empty church and of the emptiness of contemporary culture, which can only be filled by an intimacy with God. Walding’s bombastic and at times ironically humorous sermon included references to no less than ten different scriptural sources, including Isiah, Jeremiah, Genesis, Galatians, Matthew, Samuel, Judges, Luke, and the Psalms.

A special Kid’s Edition of The Pentecostal Evangel Magazine, which is distributed at Walding’s church, provides a biblical tour of the Middle East for children curious about far away lands which are sometimes mentioned in the news and on television. “Petey”, a purple parrot clad in khakis, like a cross between Big Bird and Indiana Jones, explains that the ancient city-state of Athens Greece is significant primarily because the apostle Paul went there to preach. Lebanon is mentioned as the place where tall cedar trees were cut for the Temple of Solomon in Israel. Israel is said to be the land of God’s promise to Abraham, whose people, the Jews, finally returned to the promised land only during our grandparents’ generation.

“God always keeps his promises,” says Petey, who also reminds children that Iraq is perhaps where Adam and Eve were created in the Garden of Eden, where Noah’s Ark was built by Noah, and where the Tower of Babel was constructed which led to the present confusion of languages in the World.

“The scripture is absolute truth”, insists Walding. “Common ground with other religions, if it deviates from the word of god, is meaningless. The principles of Buddhism, say, and Christianity, are not congruent with one another. If you are looking for common ground, this is it.” he says, flourishing a bible above his desk.

APOCALYPSE WHEN

“Apocalypse literally means ‘unveiling’”, says Walding. “Mankind was face to face with god in the Garden of Eden and will only be so again after the Apocalypse. The only person who can equally represent man and God is Jesus Christ.”

“Although no one can pinpoint the date for the Apocalypse, I feel that we are approaching the ‘End Times’ written about in scripture, when there will be one world leader, one religion, and one economic system.” Walding also suggests that the increase in natural disasters, such as Tsunamis, earthquakes, and storms could also be signs of what is mentioned in the Book of Revelations as the beginning of the end- when 3 years into the time of great tribulations, of plagues and war and disaster, the Antichrist will arrive and inhabit the throne of King David once more.

Pentacostal History

The word “Pentecostal” derives from the Greek word Pentecost: “the 50th”, which refers to the 50th day after the resurrection of Christ when the apostle Peter and many others were descended upon by the Holy Ghost. This date also coincides with the Jewish feast of Pentecost, ( in Hebrew Shavuot) , the Feast of Weeks, one of the three pilgrimage festivals, which arose as the celebration of the closing of the spring grain harvest. There are numerous references to it in the Bible. From Rabbinic times, the festival commemorates the giving of the law to Moses at Mt. Sinai. According to Pastor Walding, who quotes Corinthians, “3000 souls were saved on the day of the Pentecost. At that time, uneducated fishermen and workers began speaking in unknown tongues. Languages they could not have known.”

The Pentecostal movement is a world wide twentieth-century phenomenon which counts as many as 10 million members. Assembly of God Churches are regarded as “classical” Pentecostal and grew out of the late 19th-century Holiness Movement in the United States. The Holiness preacher Charles Fox Parham began preaching (1901) to his Topeka congregation that speaking in tongues was objective evidence of baptism in the Spirit. After Parham’s Los Angeles–based Apostolic Faith mission became the center of a great revival (1906), the movement quickly spread around the world. Over the next two decades the movement split along doctrinal and racial lines, often affording authority to women in third world countries. Pentecostals exist within the Catholic Church and are said to practice exorcisms.

In doctrine the Assemblies of God Church affirms the basic teachings of Pentecostalism (i.e., baptism with the Holy Spirit as evidenced through glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, divine healing, and the daily presence of the charismatic gifts basic to the early church) and of fundamentalism, emphasizing the pre-millenarian belief in a return of Jesus and his saints to reign over a period of peace and righteousness.

What People Believe

With our first article in this occasional series, we here at Spirit would like to present these ideas in the spirit of inclusivity, open sharing, and with an honest desire to learn, understand, and honor everyone’s beliefs. In these times of pointing the finger, essentialist arguments of you have to believe this or that, we feel it is a part of our vision and mission to give everyone the chance to understand in a non-judgmental forum of respect. In doing so, we hope to create a space to more deeply inform our own beliefs, and to put forth an energy of open-mindedness to balance current media standards around these issues. To get the most out of these articles, I find it helpful to pause when I have an immediate reaction, to explore what comes up and where it originates from, and to always, always, mirror the same questions I pose to others beliefs to my own. We all hold assumptions, we all hold ingrained beliefs that we assume are just the way things are, and we all can benefit from looking on what we think we know without fear, judgment, or contempt prior to investigation.