My Involvement In The Charismatic
Movement

This article is a testimony of my involvement in the Charismatic Movement. As a new Christian this movement had a major impact on my life. For many years it was the most important influence in my life spiritually. Because of this the Charismatic Movement has been a very important catalyst in my growth as a Christian. I hope my testimony will be helpful to you as you grow in your faith in Jesus Christ.

I became a Christian September 3rd, 1972 at the age of nineteen. I had a unexpected and dramatic encounter with Jesus Christ. This personal encounter with Christ radically changed my life. One aspect of my conversion was the receiving of the Holy Spirit when Jesus Christ came into my life. From that moment on, my life took a whole new direction. I wanted to live for Jesus Christ and had an insatiable thirst to learn everything I could about the Christian faith. However, I had a major problem. Even though I grew up as a minister's son I was almost totally ignorant of the Scriptures. I was enthusiastic, but vulnerable because of my lack of Biblical knowledge.

Ten months after I become a Christian I had my first encounter with Pentecostals. I had been spending my summer volunteering at several Christian camps. As I was hitch hiking from one camp to another, two United Pentecostal Pastors gave me a drive. They immediately began to talk to me about spiritual things. It was not long before they were trying to convince me that the Trinity did not exist in Scripture and that I needed to be baptized in Jesus name. They repeatedly quoted Acts 2:38 and told me that I needed to be baptized in Jesus name and receive the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. This was all new to me. I had gone to church most of my life but I knew almost nothing about what the Scriptures taught about the Holy Spirit. I had never heard of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit! However, if the Scriptures said I needed it, I was open to receiving anything the Word of God taught. After several hours of sharing the Scriptures with me they asked me if I wanted to be baptized. I was open to this because my first baptism had been before my conversion. After some thought I agreed to be baptized in Jesus name. After I came out of the water they laid hands on me and tried to persuade me to speak in tongues. I was determined not to say anything unless the Lord gave me the words. After a while they gave up trying to get me to speak in tongues and I went on my way.

Although this encounter with the Pentecostal Pastors was very brief it had a dramatic impact on my life. Out of a lack of knowledge I accepted what they taught as truth. I continued to believe what they told me about the Trinity, even after I spent a year at a Bible College. At one point I even wrote a paper promoting the 'Jesus Only' doctrine in my religious studies class! It was not until several years later, when I was in University, that a Christian friend took me aside and demonstrated to me from the Word of God that this teaching was not true. Because of the persuasive way the Lord spoke through him I had no alternative but to admit that I had been in error. However, 'Jesus Only' was not the only Pentecostal doctrine I had accepted as truth. Over time, as I gained more knowledge of the Scriptures, I began to see that several other doctrines were also questionable.

As a result of this encounter with Pentecostals I learned several things. One important thing I learned was how vulnerable I was as a new Christian to persuasive arguments. I learned the hard way what happened when someone was ill-informed of the Scriptures and was persuaded to think a certain way, without having all the facts to make one's own decision. Another thing I learned was the emotional impact of trusting other Christians who led me into teachings which proved to be untrue. New Christians need to be especially aware of the potentially harmful consequences of becoming involved in groups which do not give adequate teaching and play on their emotions. This was perhaps the most important thing I learned.

The next thing I learned was to be very alert for the way that some groups defend what they believe. The Word of God is not open to all kinds of interpretations. I learned to be careful of those groups which defend themselves by claiming that a certain teaching is "their interpretation". Most Pentecostals are prone to this kind of thinking because they do not have a solid background Biblically. They can usually back up their doctrine with only a few selected Scriptures, many of which are taken out of context. In my view, it is far better to remain uncommitted to a specific doctrine, and remain teachable, than to adopt a specific interpretation and find out later that it is wrong. More...