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.
