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

Divorce and Remarriage: May Both Parties in a Divorce Remarry?

My answer to this question is going to cause some people to jump off my bandwagon. Many Apostolics believe that the "innocent party" may remarry, but the "guilty party" may not remarry. In most cases, terms like "innocent" and "guilty" are are misleading. The Bible does not discuss the MDR question in terms of guilt or innocence. Rather, it discusses MDR in terms of covenant. The concept of covenant brings me to my first question. 

Whom Does A Broken Covenant Release?

For those who do not believe both parties are freed to remarry in divorce I have a question:

• Is a broken covenant still in force? The answer to this question is, "No, it's broken." If it is broken enough for the party who did not break the covenant to remarry without committing adultery, then it must no longer be binding. If the covenant is no longer binding, then what covenant is being violated if either party remarries? The covenant can't be binding for just one party; it's either binding for both or neither. The only biblical answer is that once the covenant has been broken legitimately then both parties are free to remarry. 

In Deuteronomy 24.1-3 the woman in whom the uncleanness was found was free to go be another man's wife after she was put away with a bill of divorce.  She could not be another man's wife just being put away, because there was a covenant still in place. But if she was given a bill of divorce—even though the uncleanness was in her—she was free to remarry. There was no way to release just one party from the covenant. Again: it's both or neither. So the answer to the question about the so-called guilty party remarrying is, "Yes, they can!"

"It Seemed Good to the Holy Ghost and To Us" Is Not a Blank Check!

For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; (Acts 15:28 KJV)

INTRODUCTION 

Preachers often use this verse as their authority to preach against things for which they admit they have no prohibitive verse (s). Well...they actually only use part of the verse. But I will make that point a little later. So they use this verse as their trump card to every objection that anyone raises against their personal authority. They even use it to trump biblical arguments. 

I am writing this blog post to place this verse in its biblical context. It should not be used as a blank check to preach whatever one chooses. A pastor has the liberty to make certain requirements for local church membership for which he has no explicit biblical command. However, no pastor has the authority bind, either on his local congregation or the global church, as requirement for heaven what scripture does not bind. This applied to me when I pastored in Alton, IL. And it will apply to me if I should ever pastor again in the future.

As I stated earlier, we do not have the authority to bind as requirement for heaven what scripture does not bind. Furthermore, we do not have the authority to use our opinions as a basis to judge our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT

The context of Acts 15:28 was whether or not to bind circumcision—therefore, the whole law—on Gentile converts. The Jerusalem Council decided that Gentiles should not be compelled to be circumcised. This is the context in which one should understand the statement under consideration.

IT SEEMED GOOD TO THE HOLY GHOST AND TO US: NO SCRIPTURE NECESSARY
This phrase is thrown around as though scripture did not figured into the apostles decision in Act 15. Therefore, this phrase is used to justify men binding their own opinions about contemporary issues on the entire body of Christ. This is the text many use to prove they don't need scriptural support for what they bind.  In fact, based on this verse, they can bind their own opinions on the body of Christ when the entire witness of scripture says the opposite.

So, did the apostles use this phrase because they issued a binding edict without, or contrary to, scripture? God forbid! Let's back up a few verses and see:

"And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written...Wherefore my sentence is..."  (Acts 15:15, 18 KJV).

Brothers and sisters, James and the others based their decision on written scripture. The reason  it seemed good the the Holy Ghost, the apostles and elders was because they consulted the written words of the prophets.

WHAT SEEMED GOOD TO THE HOLY GHOST AND TO US?
Notice the rest of the verse that never gets quoted:

For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; (Acts 15:28 KJV)

What seemed good to the Holy Ghost was not:

• To bind unnecessary rules for which one has no scripture. 
• To bind unnecessary rules that are contrary to scripture.
• To make ones own personal opinions the basis by which they judge those who do not comply. 
• To make 20th and 21rst century standards (many of which may be wise) perpetual, unbreakable law by which we condemn all present and future generations. 

CONCLUSION

"To lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things" is what "seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us."

If we are going to quote this verse, quote it all. And if we are going to use this verse, use it. Don't misquote and misuse it. 

How Persuaded Are You?

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed: Paul was exhorting the Galatians in the truth of the gospel that they had received from him. It was the gospel and there was no other gospel forth coming. And since there was no other gospel that would come later, the Galatians was not be persuaded by any message or messenger that was contrary to what they had already received.

Paul used a hypothetical illustration about himself, or even an angel from heaven, being accursed if they preached another gospel to the Galatians to demonstrate how persuaded the Galatians should be in the gospel of grace that was originally preached to them.

How persuasive do you think Paul could be? It wass Paul’s job as a preacher of the gospel, as well as the job of all gospel preachers, to be persuasive. (2 Corinthians 5:11) Paul had persuaded some Jews, and a great many devout Greeks and more than a few women. (Acts 17:4) Paul had persuaded people to worship God contrary to the Law of Moses. (Acts 18:13) Paul had persuaded Jews in the synagogue about the kingdom of God. (Acts 19:8) Paul had persuaded a great many people in almost all Asia to follow God. (Acts 19:26) If you are not yet persuaded of his powers of persuasion, then examine the arguments that Paul crafted in Romans. I believe Hebrews is Pauline also. Even according to modern secular standards Paul was a brilliant logician, philosopher and rhetorician. Paul was also equally great by first century Greek standards. Paul was indeed persuasive.

But if that was not enough, Paul stepped it up a notch and included the persuasion powers of angels from heaven.  How persuasive do you think that an angel from heaven could be? An angel persuaded a virgin she could conceive a child without the natural contribution of a man. (Luke 1:34-35) An angel convinced a reluctant Joseph who is about to put away his wife for fornication that she had actually conceived of the Holy Spirit and not a man. (Matthew 1:20) An angel convinced Mary Magdalene, and others, at the tomb of Jesus that their dead Messiah had actually been raised from the dead. (Luke 21:1-11) What persuasiveness!

Part of the powerful persuasion of angels is their imposing appearance. They have appearance like lightening and their clothes are white as snow (Matthew 28:2) and they shine with the glory of the Lord (Luke 2:9). 

Yet, Paul argued that the Galatian Christians were to be so settled in their conviction of the nature of the gospel that neither he nor an angel could turn them away from it. Obviously an angel from heaven would never preach a gospel other than the true gospel. Paul was using an absurd hyperbole to demonstrate the depth of conviction Christians should have concerning justification by grace.