"Full Gospel" Rant

In Barrie, Ontario where I live there is a church on St. Vincent Street called the Full Gospel Lighthouse. I have occasion to drive by it numerous times because it is on the way to my doctor's office. Every time I see the name of that church, I want to get a can of black paint and cross out the words "Full Gospel" and change it to the word "One" because in my Bible there is only one Gospel and it is referred to as "The Gospel." I would never do this; but I really really want the name of this church changed. A good name would be The Gospel Lighthouse Community Church. I will probably be delivering a copy of this rant to the Full Gospel Lighthouse in the near future. The use of this term really upsets and angers me as a born-again Christian but I think that is what the term is intended to do, upset people who go to the lesser churches.

Where is the term "full gospel" in Scripture? Answer - nowhere. The term "full gospel" implies by its very nature that there is a partial/half/lesser gospel. This concept is totally foreign to the Word of God. The Pentecostal Church has made up this term to create the illusion for Christians that there is something more when there isn't. The Bible refers to "the" Gospel, meaning ONE. "Full Gospel" implies that there is more than ONE. The world must see Christians as a very confused bunch of people because they have "the Gospel" which is in Scripture and the "Full Gospel" which appears in the names of many Pentecostal churches.

Scripture does not teach that Christians are to seek after the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues and it certainly is not a command anywhere in Scripture which some churches teach. This term is very confusing and in serious error. Every time I drive by this church and see this name "Full Gospel Lighthouse" I think to myself that the people who attend there must be a bunch of Christian snobs who think that they are better than the rest of us.

What the Pentecostal Church has done by using the term "full gospel" in any context, they have created a class system within Christianity. There are the first-class Christians who go to the "full gospel" church, and there are the second-class Christians who go to all the other Christian churches. This is snobbery beyond belief and I often envision the adherents of this church walking around looking down their spiritual noses at the rest of us. Other phrases that come to mind are "We are the haves and the rest of you are the have-nots." We are the greater and you are the lesser Christians. We are the powerful and you are the powerless Christians. Some Christians are strong like the "full gospel" Christians and some are weak like the rest of us are made to feel by the use of this term. There are the big larger-than-life Christians who attend the "full gospel" church and there are the little minor insignificant measly Christians who attend all other churches. This term is a threat to my personal self-worth. It makes me feel like I am a lower-quality Christian and nothing could be further from the truth.

This snobbery has a very definite purpose within the Pentecostal Church. Its purpose is to create the illusion that there is something more, that they've got "it" and the rest of us haven't. I find this whole idea highly offensive and the use of this term needs to be stamped out immediately.

Christianity is what it is! Jesus is who He is! For 2000 years, He was the God-man who died for our sins. Now all of a sudden, in the twenty-first century, the Pentecostal Church is trying to tell us that He's somebody very different. Glossolalia/tongues-speakers are now saying that not only is He the One who paid the price for our sins but now He's also the One who provides health and wealth. This is like saying to Jesus, hanging on the cross with nails in His hands and His feet; "What do you mean all we get is forgiveness for sins? We want more! We want health and wealth!" I can just see all the Penetcostals looking up all the Scriptures in the Bible that refer to health and wealth and deciding that all they have to do is quote these Scriptures often and we will be able to make health and wealth part of the reason that Jesus died on the cross (the Atonement).

What do you think God's attitude is towards this kind of thinking? The Bible teaches that nothing is to be added or taken away from "the Gospel" that was delivered to the Saints. There's something new in Penetcostal churches all the time. The history of their church shows that they never ever get to the truth. What was new truth becomes old truth and is quickly discarded to be replaced by the next new truth. This says to me that the "new truths" must be falsehoods if they can be so easily discarded and set aside. Falsehood makes the Pentecostal church a cult and they are full of it.

There is nothing new in Christianity unless you're a Pentecostal or a tongues-speaker. Tongues or glossolalia creates the illusion that there is something more because they are not used in most churches. The reason they are not used in most churches is because it is not Scriptural. Scripture teaches that tongues will cease. If you fall for the ruse of glossolalia, you will most certainly be convinced there is something more when there isn't. Ministers also claim that God speaks to them when the truth is the total revelation of God is contained within the Scriptures. Another way that the illusion of something more is created.

Scores of phony, unverifiable healings also contribute to the illusion there is something more when there really isn't. "Full Gospel" is a very offensive term and is totally confusing for the Christian population in general. What must the world think? Things that come to mind are; What is the matter with Christians? Don't they know what they believe? There seems to be two Christianities. Which one is right? How do I decide which church to go to? And I would hazard a guess that a lot of people thinking this way end up going nowhere rather than make the wrong choice because they both can't be right.

Any church using the term "full gospel" in their name needs to change that name to something else immediately to end the total confusion it's creating in Christendom.

Experience over doctrinal truth - about me

Miracles, signs and wonders - about me

Emotional high / feeling good - about me

Doctrine of subsequence - about me

Health and wealth - about me

Visions - about me

Healings - about me

Speaking in tongues - about me

Annointing - about me

New revelation - about me

Blessings - about me

Spiritual gifts - about me

Mysticism - about me

Glossolalia - about me

Hi, my name is "PENTE." I like it when the world revolves around ME! That's why I left the Baptist Church because not enough was about ME!

More Thoughts

Being totally self-centered you feel very comfortable at the Pente/tongues cult but what does Scripture say? Did God set up the church for our benefit? No! He set up the church to spread the good news about Him. The church was set up for His benefit; not for ours.

It's about Him, His death, burial and resurrection. The only thing about "us" is that we get our slate wiped clean, our sins forgiven. (It is finished.) Any and all tongues-speaking cults feel they must offer "more" to attract constituents. They do it because it works. Large numbers of people fall for it every year.

The tongues-speaking cults exist solely for the benefit and self-worship of its adherents. You need to remember here that just because so many people are being drawn to it doesn't justify it or make it right. Satan has been extra busy since the Faith Movement arrived on the scene in the early 80s. This movement has given Satan a perfect tool to work with to throw Christians off the road and into the ditch. He has had great success with it and will likely continue as long as Christians give him an open door.

We live in a very self-centered world where everything is about "me." The "me" cults play constantly to this weakness in our society. This current generation has often been called the "me" generation and it applies to the church as well. Christ would be appalled at what's going on in the tongues-speaking cults. How will they explain themselves when they stand before God someday to give account for why they totally misread and misunderstood Scripture and worst of all, shared this misunderstanding with millions of people around the world.

Hoo-Haw! (Sounds Like Hee-Haw!)

What is Hoo-Haw?  Hoo-Haw is a phrase that I use to describe speaking in tongues because that's what it sounds like.  A Hoo-Haw church is any church where they try to speak in tongues.  They really don't speak in tongues.  They really participate in glossolalia which is not speaking in tongues but they think it is!

Scripture clearly teaches that tongues is not for today.  It was used at a specific time for a specific purpose and that time has passed.  You will have to forgive me for my total lack of respect for people who try to do the Hoo-Haw thing when Scripture teaches against it.  Not only are my three sons doing the Hoo-Haw thing but two of them are in leadership roles teaching others to do the Hoo-Haw thing which is in direct conflict with the teaching of Scripture.

Hoo-Haw is not a heavenly language.  This term appears nowhere in Scripture.  Hoo-Haw is not the Biblical gift of tongues.  Hoo-Haw is "counterfeit tongues" which is gibberish and nothing more.  Spiritual gifts were never intended for the benefit of the gifted individual.  This is an abuse of tongues.  Tongues, according to Scripture, is real language, not just noise, grunts and groans.

Tongues will cease permanently according to Scripture.  The verb pauo in the Greek means "to cease permanently."  That means that they will not start up again.  Can I make it any clearer?  If you are trying to speak in tongues, you are in error.  You are in serious error!

There is only one conclusion that can be made about what is being touted as "tongues" today.  It is really just so much "Hoo-Haw."  Hoo-Haw is from Satan.  It is a "deceitful spirit" and a "doctrine of demons."  Tongues is nothing more than "learned behaviour."  Anyone can learn to do it including non-Christians.

Why do people do it?  They do it because of peer pressure to belong, to perform, to have the same gifts that everyone else has.  Remember the devastating effects that peer pressure had on you when you were a teenager.  Sounds dangerous and very destructive to me!

Spiritual Growth

The third reason people join cults is spiritual.  Many honestly want to know and serve God, and the vitality of evangelically-minded groups attracts them.  A young man who came to me for advice claimed his "relationship with God" had grown as a result of his involvement in a cult.  An Ivy League graduate told me that what attracted him was the group's "zealous Christianity."  A young woman from New England with a graduate degree joined a campus fringe church because it appeared to her "more biblical" than the church in which she was raised.

Three things should be kept in mind here.  First, we each have a spiritual need that beckons us to begin a quest.  Second, a person's search or spiritual quest may be intensified when he or she has had inadequate religious training and nurturing.  And third, the spiritual quest may also be intensified when a person has been adequately nurtured by a sound church!

I am continually surprised by the spiritual hunger I see in the young people at Wellspring.  So many who were burned in cult involvement started out with a sincere and praiseworthy desire to serve God.  Yet it was the cult or fringe church that offered a vital solution to their quest, and not the church, which was often viewed as impotent and bland by comparison.  

We all have spiritual needs.  These needs may be intensified by a deficient religious upbringing.  I do not suggest that only children from such backgrounds will enter cults or fringe churches or that parents should feel guilty for whatever inadequacies existed in the religious training given to their kids.  A number of studies have shown that the type of childhood religious training does not necessarily determine who will eventually join cults or abusive organizations.  Rather than feel guilty, parents should consider how they may better facilitate the spiritual needs of their children, communicating with them and offering sound spiritual alternatives.

In fact, people young and old join cults not only because of a weak religious background but also because of a strong one.  Many join because they have come from active, vital churches, and they often see a "fringe Christian" group as a further step to a vibrant and dynamic Christian life.  For example, a solid evangelical Baptist becomes a leader in the Children of God.  Or, a graduate of an evangelical college, and a dedicated Christian, joins the Mormon Church.  Or, three seminary graduates from solid evangelical divinity schools wind up in a "fringe church,"  where they are burned, betrayed, and used.  

Why do genuine, dedicated Christians join cults or fringe Christian churches?  The reason is that we all desire "something more."  Our dedicated youth do not often see the cult's level of zeal and dedication in their own churches.  The siren song of a cult or a fringe group beckons them.  All too often we confuse vitality and charisma for truth and soundness.

(from Cult Proofing Your Kids by Dr. Paul R. Martin)