An Awful Insult!

I was raised on good preaching. I assume that most of you reading are of the Baptist faith. My prior Pentecostal colleagues won't read this since I am Calvinist.

I heard good preaching in an open air tabernacle in Chattanooga on old Lee highway. The floor was strewn with sawdust shavings and seating for several thousands was old fashion angle iron and wood pews. The main service was the evening services with nationally recognized speakers. This was pentecostal preaching but with a strong Wesleyan-holiness emphasis. We fought "Jesus only" Independent "free holiness" people and of course the Baptist. Often the preaching was energized and emotional but deeper was a good message of holiness of life and commitment to Christ. There was exuberant praise, with occasional shouting , leaping and one man who ran around the tabernacle. Those were good old days.

The day was devoted to good Bible teaching by some of the best teachers the denomination had to offer. Attendance was lower but that was our favorite service. I was raised on what I hear many crying for today.

When I visited Bellevue Baptist ten or so years ago I went to observe Rogers preaching. I recognized good preaching and anointed preaching. Dr Rogers was a good preacher. The fact that this was a large beautiful sanctuary filled nearly to capacity and the preacher had a national broadcast, Love Worth Finding, did not effect my judgment. There was no awe in my sight. I did not worship the man. I do not mean this in a mean spirited way. I recognized the qualities of good speaking, subjective conviction and excellent voice control. But I didn't recognize an anointing. There is a difference between "spirited" preaching and "Anointed" preaching. Now a seasoned Pentecostal recognizes the difference. A "good" Pentecostal has to be able to hear the Word in the midst of murky emotional exuberance. This is a good thing!

A "good" Baptist has to just trust that his preacher is preaching the Word. There is little cultivation of hearing the Word in the murky splendor of a good speech. You confuse the Word with good speech. An old fashion classical Pentecostal would not be swayed by good speech nor a loud screaming message. Good hearing comes not from the flesh but the Holy Spirit. He gives the ear the hearing.

What is the difference you might ask? The Baptist is taught that right doctrine must be mastered to know the difference and there is a truth in that. A Pentecostal looks to a witness of the Spirit that bears a witness to his spirit. This witness cooperates with the witness of the Bible.

One of the things that interested me about Dr Rogers was his altar calls. He had a pattern and never strayed away from it. He always left the platform and came to the floor and stood below the pulpit. There he gave the invitation.

I found myself many times thinking, "why is he walking that way?" Over and over I heard myself think that. He walked strange , flatfooted and cautious. "Why" is he walking that way?
"Why am I thinking this?" "What does it matter that he is walking that way?"

When the Paul Williams crisis surfaced it occurred to me that the Spirit was providing the utterance for this thought. He was getting my attention, "what do you see here?" "He is walking funny!" "Why is he walking this way?"

The floor was covered in blood, the blood of the Son of God! The blood wherewith he was sanctified was being trampled. It was treated as an unholy thing! A great insult to the Spirit was taking place in that Church. This sin was not an isolated sin of one man but a corporate sin flowing from a false gospel. It was the result of a semi-Pelagian gospel.