Monday, November 16, 2020

Televisiongate: We Killed, then Changed

Televisiongate: We Killed, then Changed 

            I am 45, so I remember well the video and television wars of the 1990s and early 2000s. In so-called conservative Apostolic circles, we were terrorizing the television watchers; not just the television watchers, but the home movie watchers. We were preaching against taking videos of birthdays and weddings. And we were certainly preaching against using video for church services. 

             But it’s even worse than that. We were not just preaching against TV as a matter of a local church standard or a personal preference; we were disfellowshipping preachers, pastors, and churches who did not align with us. In Tulsa, circa 1999, a preacher with the passion a Pentecostal can portray proclaimed that if you permit video, then “you are not my brother.” This scenario could be replayed many times over in many conferences all over America. Not only did we disfellowship them personally, but we also demanded that everyone else disfellowship him as well. 

            If you had anyone preach for you that used video, then we boycotted conferences at your church. I watched a former pastor of mine go through hell from some of his closest friends because he had a long-time friend and elder who used video preach for him. In the interest of transparency, as a teenager I was on the side of those who were opposing him. I watched the personal pulpit attacks. I watched the name-calling. I watched as we maligned their characters and questioned their integrity. 

            It is one thing to do that to pastors who have a paycheck every week. But may God have mercy on the evangelist that happened to preach for someone who allowed video. If he did not recant and repent, then his entire livelihood was taken from him. Pastors would call other pastors and tell them not to use him. And just like that, his revival schedule would disappear. Whether evangelist or pastor, if you had anything to do with video, you were anathema in that movement.

I wish I could create a montage of every abusive comment that preachers made on this topic. I wish I could capture the emotions of every person that we hurt and damaged by our vitriol. I wish we could compensate for all of the lost offerings because innocent men were “canceled” because they didn’t hold the same view we did. By the way, “cancel culture” existed in the church long before it existed in the culture. Most problems with society do. But we caused inestimable damage by our unchristian behavior over a non-essential issue. 

Fast forward to 2020. Many of those same preachers have multiple social media accounts. How often does it happen when watching Fox New live on Facebook that it notifies us that brother so-and-so is watching with you? Many of those men are now on social media recommending their favorite new conservative TV channel (Newsmax, OANN, etc.) and where to watch it online. They are buying the memorabilia of their favorite politicians like they are sports superstars, all the while denying fandom and hero worship. The former anti-TV men are now glued to a TV screen watching pre-election, election, and post-election news. 

I remember when it didn’t matter, we were told, whether you are watching TV on a big screen or a computer device. TV is TV no matter where you watch it, right? I remember when we ridiculed people for saying they only watch the news. I also remember the response that, “It starts with the news, but it never stays with the news.” Come on now preachers who are TV news junkies, can you tell us what else you are watching? Because, according to your former logic, people can’t and don’t “just watch the news.”

And here is the tragic part, we (corporately) changed no one has apologized for the damage they caused. We changed and no one has been honest about it. We changed, and no one is explaining why it’s okay to do the things over which we killed others. When ministry assassins begin to do what they killed others for, they need to repent. When ministry assassins begin to do what they killed others for, they owe them an apology. You do not have biblical permission to change as if nothing happened. Preachers who attack and try to destroy other preachers should be held to account. To murder your brother with the weapon of words is a sin against the image of God. We should take it seriously, but we treat it at best as a whoopsy. 

I have learned from this, and I pray others do to, to draw both biblical and fellowship lines with grace. I have also learned to mark the assassins among us and to avoid getting too close to them. They can’t and shouldn’t be trusted until they repent and demonstrate a true heart of love and compassion. 

            

 

Monday, August 31, 2020

My Class Assignment for This Week: Answer These Questions

Week 2 Dialogue

Lesson 5.1

1.     The authors of IBI list five essential qualifications that should characterize interpreters if they are to interpret accurately. Place these in the order of most to least important, in your view, with a short defense at the end to support your order. Would you eliminate any or add others you believe are more or equally important to these?

2.     How would you respond to someone who said, “The Holy Spirit showed me that this the meaning of this verse”? What is the role of the Spirit versus the role of methods (and methodology) in getting at the proper meaning?

3.     Someone wrote: “There is no such thing as presuppositionless interpretation.” Do you agree or disagree and why?

4.     Under the topic of presuppositions about that nature of the Bible, which do you think are crucial? Would you add or delete an included by the authors of IBI? Defend your answer. 

5.     In our own words explain how the Bible can evidence both unity and diversity. Do you think that one takes precedence over the other, and if so, which and why?

6.     Do you agree with the authors’ presupposition that the goal of hermeneutics is to discover the meaning of the text that the biblical writers or editors intended for their readers to understand? Is this realistic or possible? Is this better than the alternative goals?

7.     Define how the authors used preunderstanding and explain why the topic is important. How do preunderstandings differ from presuppositions? 

8.     The authors urged the readers to test their preunderstandings (to prevent them from becoming blinders to the true understanding). Which of the four types of preunderstandings do you sense that you may have the greatest need to be tested, and perhaps, changed? (Recall that are: informational, attitudinal, ideological, and methodological.)

9.     Did you find the image of the hermeneutical spiral to be useful? Why or why not?

10.  If all interpreters bring their unique presuppositions and preunderstandings to their reading of the Bible can there ever be an objective interpretation?

11.  Is objective interpretation important or necessary? Why or why not? What is at stake?

Lesson 6.1

1.     Can there be multiple meanings in a biblical text that we seek to interpret? If not, explain why. If yes, where would they come from and how might you identify them?

2.     What do the authors of IBI mean by “author-centered textual meaning”? Is this a worthy goal for interpreters? Are other goals just as good or even preferable?

3.     The authors of IBI raise the perspective of reader-response interpretation again. Why does this approach enter into a discussion of the goal of interpretation? How would you respond to people who say that meaning only occurs when readers create meaning in their reading of the text?

4.     Since we stand removed so far in time from the formation of the biblical documents, can we have any certainty that the events they recorded actually happened? Does it matter one way or the other, as long as God speaks through our encounter with those accounts? Is it possible to validate our interpretation—that is, to have a high degree of confidence that one interpretation is likely to be the more correct than the competing alternatives? Why or why not?

Lesson 6.2

1.     How does Macbeth feel about his wife’s death? Defend your answer with specifics from the speech. 

2.     What is the general mood of Macbeth’s speech? Explain. 

3.     Do the Scriptures also reflect this same mood, or do you detect another one (or other ones)? Identify them and defend your answer. 

4.     Do the biblical texts give you any insight into what Macbeth is saying?

5.     Why does Macbeth call it a “dusty death?”

6.     Often it’s true that we learn by analogy. In Shakespeare’s passage, to what four things is life compared? What is the author telling us about life?

7.     Shakespeare intended to convey multiple meanings or levels of meanings in this passage, just as the psalmists and the writer of Job intended their texts to work on more than one level. What are the levels of meaning (literal and figurative) of speech by Macbeth?

8.     Can you be sure your interpretation of Macbeth’s speech is correct? Why or why not? What might ensure its validity?

Saturday, February 22, 2020

How Jeff Arnold Has Changed Preaching






How J. W. Arnold Influenced Pentecostal Preaching
John C. Carroll
William Jessup University/Wilson University
Professor Dorisa Costello 
02/04/2019



How J. W. Arnold Influenced Pentecostal Preaching 
Introduction
            J. W. Arnold is popular and polarizing, charismatic and confrontational. Therefore, I have chosen to write about the significant impact that he has had on my love for preaching. My passion for preaching is twofold: I love to hear preaching, and I love to preach. Arnold has been one of my favorite preachers since I was a teenager. I not only like to listen to him preach, but I have cited him in many of my sermons. I am not alone in this. Many of my friends have either cited him or preached entire sermons of his. 
Conversion Experience
            Arnold has told his conversion story on many occasions. One of the more animated versions of his testimony can be found in a YouTube video titled, “STORE 2012 Jeff Arnold” (Arnold, 2013). He described the condition that his life was in immediately before his conversion. He was an alcoholic. He and his wife Patty were about to get a divorce. He described what he now believes to be the presence of God waking him like nudging someone on the shoulder. The waking event happened three nights in a row. Each night he got up and went to the kitchen and opened a can of beer and lit a cigarette. He felt a sensational presence in his room and house. He would get up and check all the windows and doors to make sure that there was no intruder. 
            Finally, after the third night, he went back into the bedroom and woke Patty and asked her, “If God were to call me to be a missionary to China, would you go?” Patty said, “Go to bed, Jeff. You’re drunk.” Jeff replied that he believed that God was talking to him and that he needed to go to church. He recalled the first time he felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in the little Pentecostal church they attended, and that it was the same presence that woke him up those three nights in a row. 
            He didn’t know that Patty had been raised in a Pentecostal church. The first church that they attended was another denomination. When they told Patty that if she signed a card that she would be saved, she said to them that she had not even received the baptism of the Spirit yet. She was expecting that she would receive the baptism of the Spirit and speak with tongues.
            The usher that was speaking with them at the altar got the attention of other people and told them what she was saying. Eventually, the pastor had them removed from the service. Arnold remembered how embarrassed he was that he had been thrown out of a church. He said that he had been thrown out of whorehouses, honky-tonks, hotels and other places. However, he had never been thrown out of a church. He felt like at that moment that was the lowest place in his life.  
            Eventually, he received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which changed his life forever. His conversion set him on a course in his life that will cause him to go down in history as one of the most prolific Pentecostal preachers of his time. His vernacular, flamboyance, charisma and depth of biblical knowledge has changed how Pentecostals judge preaching for the rest of my life. For generations, Apostolics and Pentecostals of all stripes will be listening to J. W. Arnold’s preaching. God changed his life, and he has changed ours. 
Arnold’s Preaching Career
Children’s Evangelist 
            Arnold began his preaching ministry as a children’s evangelist. He was an accomplished ventriloquist and magician. So, he would travel and preach kids’ revivals. He developed an act with his puppets that communicated the gospel (Traffic talk with Jeff Arnold, 2016). He was effective and in demand. However, his gift as a communicator would not allow him to remain as a kids’ preacher. Pastors and leaders within his organization began to recognize his talents. Consequently, his speaking matured and so did his audience. 
Pastor 
            Eventually, he became the pastor of a church in Gainesville, FL. He remained the pastor there for three-plus decades until his recent retirement. For a new pastor like myself, staying in one church for over 30 inspires me to remain faithful in my role through all the ups and downs of serving God’s people. Arnold has preached about many of the issues he has faced over the years—but he stayed through it all. 
Preaching Style 
            Arnold’s preaching style is as polarizing as it is popular. He draws crowds that fill large sanctuaries and conference halls. Most come to listen to the revelatory nature of his preaching. Others come to hear what he will say. Rather, they come to hear how he will say it. He speaks with a vernacular that his childhood, Brooklyn, New York home gave him. He uses crude, but not vulgar, language effectively. He makes people listen to what he has to say. His verbiage commands attention. 
            In addition to his crass, Brooklyn accent, he is one of the most honest Pentecostal preachers. He often speaks about his struggles with different sins. He discusses openly his past lifestyle as well as his present temptations. A combination of these factors has been how Arnold has changed how my generation of preachers see preaching. 
            Arnold makes unique connections between texts of scriptures in a way that no one else we have heard. When he preaches about the characters of the Bible, he leaves you feeling as if he interviewed them for his sermon. It is almost like he knows them. I, and those who have grown up on Arnold’s preaching, have never heard another preacher speak the way he does. As a result, we strive to know our bibles like a person knows their best friend. 
Conference Speaker 
            J. W. Arnold’s style made him one of the most prolific conference speakers of more than a generation. He preaches in camps and conferences across all organizational boundaries. Perhaps the best example of his national platform is his long-running presence at a minister’s conference in Louisiana every year. He preached Because of the Times (BOTT) from 1983 to 2014. BOTT is just one of many meetings that Arnold graced with his ministry. Thousands of preachers and their wives attend annually. The sermons that he has preached at these meetings gave to us revelation of God and his grace that draws us closer to Christ. 
Ministry Themes 
            The primary themes of Arnold’s sermons are grace and the miraculous. His greatest message about miracles was “The Miracle is Looking for a Vessel.” His greatest message about grace was “A Refuge from Despair.” The message about despair has been a refuge for me more than once. Every Christian needs to hear “A Refuge from Despair.”
            “The Miracle Looking for a Vessel” let us know that all we have to do is make ourselves available to God and He will use us to do extraordinary things. We don’t have to have great ability, but we do need great availability. “A Refuge from Despair” reminded us that in Christ there is a place of refuge from the despair that often follows failures. Arnold let us know that some Christians may not forgive us, but Christ will. 
Cultural Respect 
Social Media 
            Beyond his ministerial resume, the respect that Pentecostal culture gives to him is significant. There is a Twitter account that is dedicated to his quotes (@JArnoldQuotes). When I last looked, his tribute Twitter account had 7,175 followers. There are also many memes on Facebook and Instagram of his one-liners. Arnold is among the most quoted preachers in the Pentecostal movement. The fact of how often he is quoted in various formats demonstrates how inspirational his preaching is to my generation of ministers. 
Preachers Who Plagiarize Him 
            For a preacher, the highest form of flattery is for another preacher to preach his material. Using this criterion for flattery would make J. W. Arnold one of the most flattered Pentecostal preachers. Jentezen Franklin, among others, has preached Arnold’s messages. “Jentezen Franklin is the Senior Pastor of Free Chapel, a multi-campus church. Each week his television program, Kingdom Connection, is broadcast on major networks all over the world. A New York Times best-selling author, Jentezen has written nine books” (Senior Pastor, Franklin, 2019). Franklin is just one of the mainstream ministries has made use of Arnold’s content.
            I will cite one example from Franklin to demonstrate my point. Franklin preached a sermon called, “Be the Vessel” (Franklin, 2014). Franklin’s sermon was taken almost exactly and specifically from Arnold’s 1989 message titled, “The Miracle is Looking For a Vessel” (Arnold, 2015). The Arnold sermon discussed here is one of his classics. In an academic context, Franklin would be convicted of plagiarism. The above example is one of many to demonstrate the impact that Arnold’s ministry has had, not only in the United Pentecostal Church, but also across denominational lines. 
Conclusion 
            A combination of the above points should provide a compelling argument for the significance of Arnold’s influence on my generation—a generation of preachers. His national presence in preaching conferences, the tribute Twitter account, the many memes of his quotes on all forms of social media, the number of sermons that he has on the internet in various forms, the number of times that preachers across denominational lines have preached his sermons should demonstrate adequately that Arnold has been an influencer.  
Reference 
Arnold, J. [The Pentecostals of Sarasota]. (2013, December 5). STORE 2012 Jeff Arnold. [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWuqnqIuqLY
Arnold, J. [Because of the Times]. (2015, May 9). The miracle is looking for a vessel. [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DPmXgsCMjM
Franklin, J. [Jentezen Franklin]. (2014, October 31). Be the vessel. [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVcjlKl39-w
Franklin, J. (2019). Senior pastor of Free Chapel. Retrieved from https://www.jentezenfranklin.org/about
Woodward, M. [Traffic Talk]. (2016, July 12). Traffic talk with Jeff Arnold. [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWj6CoIHEhI&t=241s