Apostate Charismatic Apologists

Michael L. Brown wrote: “The fact is – and this is the bottom line on the issue – neither Paul nor Jesus warned us to beware of different types of spiritual manifestation. Rather they warned us to beware of false messiahs and false messages along with false miracles that seemed to validate the false messiah and/or message.”¹⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 67 So they did not warn of “spiritual manifestations” but only the “false miracles” of the false teachers? What is the difference? This is the illogical apologetics that is consistent in the charismatic side. Peter Glover noted: “What they do not realize is that supernatural manifestations prove nothing – and they can come from two sources, not one. Therefore they require close examination (spiritual discernment) by the only microscope given us by God Himself – His own word.”²⁾Mark Haville, Chris Hand, Philip Foster, Peter Glover, edited by Peter Glover, The Signs and Wonders Movement – Exposed, Day One Publication, 1997, p. 9

Moses declared that God would allow false prophets to perform signs and wonders and prophesy correctly at times to test whether His people will “go after other gods… for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deuteronomy 13:1-3).

He was affectionately known by his followers as the “divine drunkard.” Men and women traveled thousands of miles to drink from the “spiritual wine” he dispensed. When he touched his followers they would experience great “exhilaration and joy.” His disciples would often manifest “uncontrollable laughter” after receiving a physical touch from him. Was he Rodney Howard-Brown, John Arnott, John Wimber, Swami Baba Muktanander or Guru Bhagvhan Shrei Rajneish? In one way or the other he was all of them.

This manifestation (mass “holy” laughter), previously known almost exclusively to the occult world, is sweeping the church.³⁾Joseph R. Chambers, D.D., “Holy” Laughter: Part Two, Paw Creek Ministries, Inc., Pamphlet 367, undated, p.1

John MacArthur identified this also:

Wimber claims that various physical phenomena take place when the Holy Spirit’s power comes on a person. They include shaking and trembling, falling down (being “slain in the Spirit”), a euphoric state resembling drunkenness, jumping up and down, contraction of the hands making them clawlike, facial contortions, stiffening of the body, trembling, fluttering of the eyelids, heavy breathing, sensations of heat, perspiring, and a feeling of weight on the chest. Of course, the Bible nowhere associates those sensations with the working of the Spirit in a person’s life. They sound more like occult phenomena or self-induced experience than the fruit of the Spirit (cf. Gal. 5:22-23).⁴⁾ John MacAthur, Jr., Charismatic Chaos, Zondervan Publishing House, 1992, p. 173

Yet, these are the manifestations that are occurring in churches and being called “revival.” Michael Brown’s defends this “revival” saying, “Revival is not about shaking…. But, when God does visit His Church in power, when His Spirit is poured out in abundance, when human lives are dramatically impacted, unusual things may happen. Trembling is not uncommon. Falling is hardly exceptional. Physical manifestations are often the order of the day.”⁵⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 143 This is odd as the greatest revival meeting, recorded with such a powerful outpouring of the Spirit was in Acts 2, and no record of a single person shaking or falling.

Brown defense offers an abundance of proof texts that have no reference to people shaking (2 Samuel 22:7-9; Psalm 77:18-20; 104:31-33; 114:7-8; Job 9:6; Acts 4:29-31; 16; 25-26) but all speak of earth quakes, with the exception of (Exodus 19:16-19; 20:18-19) which refer to “trembling with fear.”⁶⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 144-145 This can hardly give creditability to his statement “God is shaking us up!”⁷⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 143 Attempting to protect this perversion of the texts involving earthquakes, he asks,

Do you somehow imagine that the whole place shook but they didn’t shake?… Do you think that when the earthquake jolted the jailhouse in Acts 16, so that the prison doors “flew open” and “everybody’s chains came loose,” that Paul and Silas sat still and unmoved?⁸⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 146

If the people at these “revivals” are shaking because of an earthquake, only then could such a question justify his twisting of Scripture. His blatant lack of exegesis seems more of an attack on God’s Word then a defense for the unbiblical action taking place. Even going so far as to say, “Is there no shaking today that is scriptural? Enough with trying to find logical loopholes and exegetical escapes.”⁹⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 150 Is California under a great revival since they experience frequent earthquakes and the citizens get all shook up? Hebrews 12:21 is another verse cited which states “And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake.” It is understandable for Moses to have been shaken in fear after seeing God as the threat of death was imminent on those who would look upon God (Genesis 32:30; Exodus 33:20; Deuteronomy 5:26; Judges 13:22). There is no quarrel with the fact the people trembled in the presence of God out of fear of the Holy Judge, but are they preaching “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” at these services?

Note the danger of this manifestation as he mentions water baptisms. “This [shaking], for example, is quite common in the weekly baptismal services at the Brownsville Revival… and they shake or become weak in the light of His presence, as frequently happened in the Word. As they are helped out of the water (or, sometimes, carried out), the congregation clap and shout for joy.”¹⁰⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 153 When did people in the Word ever shake during water baptism so that they needed to be helped or carried out of water? The closes to such an incident in the Bible is caused by a demon that possessed a boy and “ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him” (Mark 9:22). Luke’s parallel account described “the devil threw him down and tare him” (Luke 9:42). Jay P. Green translates the word as “violently convulsed,”¹¹⁾Jay P. Green, Sr. The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew-Greek-English, 1 Volume edition, Hendrickson Publishers, 1976, 2008, p. 798 and Kenneth Wuest translated it similarly, commenting “The demon threw the boy into a complete convulsion.”¹²⁾Kenneth Wuest, Mark: In the Greek New Testament, Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950, p. 182 Spiros Zodhiates’ lexicon describes this behavior within the definition of a demon possessed “soothsayer,” stating: “from the mad extravagant behavior of such persons among the heathen. Such soothsayers raged, foamed, and yelled, making strange and terrible noises, sometimes gnashing with their teeth, shaking and trembling with many strange motions…. They were caught up in such ecstasy that they were beside themselves…. In many instances was a real possession by the devil, namely, in the case of the prophetic damsel (Acts 16:16, 18). The manteis (pl.) were possessed of a mantic fury which displayed itself by the eyes rolling, the mouth foaming, the hair flying, and so forth…. The Word of God knows nothing of this manic fury except to condemn it.”¹³⁾Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D. Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible (KJV), AMG Publishers, 1991, p. 1735-1736 Kevin Reeves was once involved with this movement offers a serious warning which relates to the discernment called for in Deuteronomy 13:1-3:

Having been an ardent supporter of the holy laughter movement perhaps gives me a one-up on those who have only viewed it from the outside. I can state with finality that based on my personal observations of the movement’s inner functions, its source could not be God.  …I have been part and parcel of emotional manipulation, heightened expectation, atmospheric maneuvering, and precious little solid biblical teaching…. Whatever spirit it is that makes folks drunk and lose all inhibitions, fall a top one another in a tangled mass of arms, legs, and raised skirts, laugh without restraint in the middle of church service or at communion… is not of God.

If these things happened in a bar, we as Christians would be rightly appalled. But when they occur, and continue to occur with practiced regularity in the vary sanctuary of our churches, then we are expected to look on with indifference and believe that somehow… that God is at work….

The comparisons are striking. The only difference is in where a person gets loaded.¹⁴⁾Kevin Reeves, The Other Side of the River, Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2007, p. 137-138

   Michael Brown asks all who oppose the experience based “revival,” “What makes you right? Give me biblical and spiritual proof – not speculation and opinion and inference and innuendo – that this current Christ-centered revival is not of God. I will give you proof – no, proofs, by the multiplied thousands – that the work is of God.”¹⁵⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 3-4 His thought of “proofs” is the conversions he claims as “sinners flocking to the altar to repent…”¹⁶⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 27 But what does he mean by repent? Presenting a hypothetical example, he defines a conversion experiences that would be regular for his revival. “[A]n unbeliever comes into our assembly, is overcome by God’s power… falls to the ground, shakes and cries out, then two hours later arises radically transformed, thoroughly repentant…”¹⁷⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 62 Falling on the floor and shaking is not repenting, nor was any mention of the gospel referred to in this hypothetical example. “They were deceived into believing their religious experiences were evidence of true salvation, but, in fact, they were never saved.”¹⁸⁾Daniel P. Franklin, Christians In Hell: Is Your Faith Merely False Hope?, Tate Publishing & Enterprises, 2010, p. 30

Brown consistently assumes his critics “never even heard this supposedly deceived minister in person or by tape or printed page”¹⁹⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 7 Yet Dave Hunt wrote:

 A lack of such careful enunciation of the gospel is one of the characteristics of today’s so-called revival. This author [Dave Hunt] met with Michael L. Brown, the Brownsville theologian who heads the Brownsville Revival School of Ministry. We told Brown that we had watched six different tapes of services at Brownsville, had seen hundreds of persons going forward, yet had not heard Steve Hill, the evangelist, clearly present the gospel. People seemed to come from all over the world to “get it,” as the testimonies put it….

Instead of taking our sincere observation in the spirit in which they were given, Brown insisted that the gospel was preached and that the tapes we had must be the exception. We asked for tapes with a clear presentation of the gospel, and he promised to send them right away. Several months have elapsed. He has been reminded, but the tapes have not yet arrived.²⁰⁾Dave Hunt, Occult Invasion, Harvest House Publishers, 1998, p. 524

But yet conversions of the sinners are his best evidence for this revival being from God. Brown’s defense: “it is the norm in evangelism around the world to this day – that sinners see the light of God’s grace and are saved from their sins before they comprehend the gospel message in totality.”²¹⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 176 Again he gives the experience of converts who “see light” instead of the biblical “hearing of faith” (Romans 10:17; Galatians 3:2).

The apostle Paul said, “I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved” (1 Corinthians 15:1-2). Notice their salvation came after “receiving” the gospel that was preached, not before as Brown claims is the norm in evangelism. In the next two verses, Paul presents the complete gospel in its totality (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). So what is the “gospel” message of the Brownsville revival?

The revival message that is being sounded today throughout the land says, “Repent! Get right with God! Turn from your sins and submit to His will. Jesus wants to save you and deliver you so that you can be free and clean. But if you want Him as Savior, you must serve Him as Lord.” That’s the message being preached.²²⁾Michael L. . Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 70

No death, burial, or resurrection, as Paul defined to the Corinthians. No mention of salvation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), but rather a salvation earned by works, saying, “if you want Him as Savior, you must serve Him…”

Claiming “miracles are not the central issue; submitting to Jesus and doing the Father’s will are the central issue”²³⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 70 of their message, yet contradicting himself constantly by presenting miracles as the means of salvation with utter lack of the gospel. Giving an example of “miraculous conversions taking place in Muslim and Hindu land… [where] people see a vision of a crucified Jesus suspended in the air over their village and then get saved by the hundreds[.] …according to missionary reports, that very thing happened a few years ago in a village in the Hindu city of Kathmandu in Nepal.”²⁴⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 36 Again, no gospel presented, just an apparition of a crucified Jesus. Jesus did not remain crucified. He came down from the cross and was buried and rose from the grave. Never in Scripture is He again viewed hanging on the cross but rather “on the right hand of God” as Stephen saw Him (Acts 7:55-56). This seems more akin to the pagan emperor Constantine’s false conversion or the false gospel of Rome.

Paul’s conversion was not the norm, even in the Bible it is one of a kind (Acts 9:1-18; 22:6-16; 26:12-20). Michael L. Brown admits this fact calling Paul’s conversion “an independent and isolated conversion experience.”²⁵⁾Michael L. Brown, Let No One Deceive You: Confronting the Critics of Revival, Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1997, p. 198 Yet by comparing the parallel passages of Paul’s meeting of Jesus on the road to Damascus, we find that Paul definitely heard the gospel from Ananias and Jesus himself, not to mention the fact that he was already acquainted with the fact of the death, burial, and resurrection as he lived in Jerusalem (Acts 22:3) during those events and was present at Stephen‘s martyrdom, so Paul surely heard his sermon that spans over Acts chapter 7. Lewis Sperry Chafer warned of such counterfeit revivals:

False teachers are usually sincere and full of humanitarian zeal; but they are unregenerate. This judgment necessarily follows when it is understood that they deny the only ground of redemption…. All teachers are to be judged by their attitude toward the doctrine of the blood redemption of Christ, rather than by their winsome personalities, their education, or their sincerity.

Since the blood redemption of the cross is the central truth and value of the true faith, it being the “power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:23-24), any counterfeit system of doctrine which would omit this essential, must force some secondary truth into the place of prominence…. Many are easily led to fix their attention upon the secondary things, and to neglect wholly the one primary thing. Especially is this true since the secondary things are tangible and seen, while the one essential thing is spiritual and unseen; and Satan has blinded their eyes toward that which is of eternal value. A system of doctrine may be formed, then, which includes every truth of the Scriptures save one: exalting the Person of Christ, not His work, and thereby emphasizing some secondary truth as its central value.²⁶⁾Lewis Sperry Chafer, D.D., Litt. D., Th.D., Systematic Theology, Vol. II, Dallas Seminary Press, 1947, 1974, p. 108-109

   William DeArteaga, another defender of these extreme manifestations, writes “The doctrine of cessationism had tragic consequences that are only now coming to light, the most serious of which was the decline and fall of Protestantism in Northern Europe.”²⁷⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 86 This is a bold lie, as he also acknowledges the Protestant Reformation was established on the doctrine of cessationism which clearly did not cause the Church to have a tragic fall, but rather the opposite. The Reformation should be considered a revival as soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) came to the forefront. Such inconsistencies in reasoning and blatant deceptions are found in abundance throughout DeArteaga’s writing. It was hyper Calvinism which caused the fall of the church in Europe as evangelism stopped altogether with their perception of irresistible grace. Yet DeArteaga considers cessationism synonymous with Calvinism, even attempting to discredit Dave Hunt’s Seduction of Christianity by calling him a Calvinist. “The popular contemporary American Calvinist theologian Dave Hunt… had not the slightest clue that the cessationism central to Calvinism and to his own theology had anything to do with Protestant Europe’s spiritual decline.²⁸⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 89 Again, it was not the cessationism of Calvin that negatively affected the churches of Europe, nor is Dave Hunt a Calvinist.²⁹⁾see Dave Hunt, What Love Is This? Calvinism‘s Misrepresentation of God, The Berean Call, third edition, 2006 But such erroneous representation of persons is a major theme in DeArteaga’s book as he says, “Jonathan Edwards would have relished this [Faith-Cure] movement.”³⁰⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 115 However, Edwards was a Calvinist and cessationist, and offered multiple rebukes to such false revivals. Edwards writes:

Experiences and discoveries such as these, commonly raise the affections of such as are deluded by them to a great height, and make a mighty uproar in both soul and body. And a very great part of the false religion that has been in the world, from one age to another, consists in such discoveries as these and in the affections that flow from them. In such things consisted the experiences of the ancient Pythagoreans among the heathen, and many others among them, who had strange ecstasies and raptures, and pretended to a divine afflatus and immediate revelations from heaven. In such things as these seem to have consisted the experiences of the Essenes, an ancient sect among the Jews at and after the time of the apostles. In such things as these consisted the experiences of many of the ancient Gnostics, the Montanists, and many other sects of ancient heretics in the primitive ages of the Christian church…. In these things also seems to lie the religion of the many kinds of enthusiasts of the present day. It is chiefly by such sort of religion as this that Satan transforms himself into an angel of light: and it is that which he has ever most successfully made use of to confound hopeful and happy revivals of religion, from the beginning of the Christian church to this day.³¹⁾Jonathan Edwards, The Religious Affections, THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1997, first published 1746, p. 212-213

   Oddly, as DeArteaga claims “the cessationism central to Calvinism” was the cause of the churches dying in Europe, he admits “In the American colonies the revival flowered in a purely Calvinist environment.”³²⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 30 Furthermore, by slandering Charles Chauncey as an opponent to Edward’s and the Great Awakening, DeArteaga revises history and contradict himself. Speaking of Chauncey‘s writing against Edwards, DeArteaga says,

 Seasonable Thoughts was a compendium of every abuse and mistake unruly meeting and exaggerated event Chauncey could find….

Using the assumption of Calvinist theology… Chauncey proved to his contemporary ministers what they wanted to hear: the Awakening was all enthusiasm and no Spirit.³³⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 52

He claims Chauncey used “Calvinist theology” to “prove” there was “no Spirit” in the Awakening, but previously admits that “he [Chauncey] tended towards the new Arminianism.”³⁴⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 45 DeArteaga cannot consistently figure out which side of his mouth to speak from as his arguments are only consistent in offering contradictions. Mary Baker Eddy also depreciated cessationism by yoking it to Calvinism.

Christians claim to be his followers, but do they follow him in the way that he commanded? Hear his imperative command: …‘Heal the sick!’

Why has this Christian demand so little inspiration to stir mankind to Christian effort? Because men are assured that this command was intended for a particular period and for a select number of followers. This is even more pernicious than the old doctrine of foreordination, – the election of a few to be saved, while the rest are damned; and so it will be considered, when the lethargy of mortals, produced by man-made doctrines, is broken by the demands of divine Science.³⁵⁾Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Keys to the Scripture, Published by the Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker G. Eddy, 1934, p. 37-38

   The exhaustive amount of deliberate deception of DeArteaga’s book causes one to wonder how and why seventeen individuals would be willing to put their names in the first four pages to endorse this writer? It is not wrong to consider this book purposely fraudulent considering that William DeArteaga claims to have begun researching for Quenching the Spirit in 1982, and it was finally published in 1992. This is significant when realizing that he converted “about 1980” out of “metaphysical… Gnostic heresies,”³⁶⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 13 and within two years started researching for Quenching the Spirit, while finding time to write and have his first “Christian” book published in 1983. Perhaps his sympathies for Gnosticism is what drove him to misrepresent history, as, “the Gnostic Gospel writers were interested in spirituality above history, because Gnostics believed that spiritual experience was the source of religious truth.”³⁷⁾James L. Garlow, Peter Jones, Cracking DaVinci’s Code, Victor an Imprint of Cook Communications Ministries, 2004, p. 165 As antagonistic to cessationists as he was, one wonders if he had ever truly escaped his “Gnostic heresies” since he gives them praise when he came “to realize that a series of Gnostic and heretical individuals finally broke the theology of cessationism and the stranglehold of realism-materialism on the church.”³⁸⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 154 The contexts of this statement indicates DeArteaga’s opinion that the metaphysical movement of the 1800s, Mind-Cure, Faith-Cure, Christian Science, and New Thought, “paved the way for healing ministries in the twentieth century and the emergence of the charismatic renewal.”³⁹⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 154 Similarly, Morton Kelsey claimed God empowered shamans. “Shamanism shows us that even before Jesus, though, God worked among people.”⁴⁰⁾Morton Kelsey, Dreams: A Way to Listen To God, Paulist Press, 1978, p. 29 In one of Kelsey’s books that DeArteaga listed in his bibliography, Kelsey considered Jesus to utilize the same power as shamans. “When we look at the ministry of Jesus, we shall see… that his life and acts, his teaching and practice, are rather akin to shamanism based on an intimate relationship with a loving father god. In fact, an important study might be made comparing the ministry of Jesus with that of shamanism.”⁴¹⁾Morton Kelsey, Healing and Christianity, Harper & Row, 1976, p. 51

DeArteaga admits his former faith in the New Thought metaphysics in a footnote of Quenching the Spirit. “My forthcoming book, From New Thought to the Charismatic Renewal (working title). I should note that my knowledge of the Metaphysical movement comes partly out of personal experience. Like Kenyon, I too spent a season of my spiritual life within metaphysical circles. In my case it was the 1970s. The Lord led me out of that entrapment step by step as I began to realize that fundamental discernment flaws lay at the root of the New Age cult.”⁴²⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 279 Referring to this footnote, Hanegraaff responded, “Though DeArteaga has claimed that he has since abandoned his metaphysical ideas, it is uncertain whether this includes his views regarding reincarnation.”⁴³⁾Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity In Crisis, 21^st Century, Thomas Nelson, 2009, p. 417

DeArteaga claimed to have escaped the New Age cult which he was involved with in the1970s, (“from 1974 to about 1980”)⁴⁴⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 13 yet Dave Hunt noted that in 1983 DeArteaga was still teaching New Age theology, only changing the circle he was influencing as he had now infiltrated the church.

The thesis in Quenching [the Spirit] was previously presented by DeArteaga in Past Life Visions (1983): “The Holy Spirit will flow into occult groups if it [sic] is blocked out by Orthodox Christians” (page 17). He lauds Agnes Sanford’s incredibly heretical The Healing Light (page 132); defends her belief in a pre-earth human existence (pages 145-146); seems to embrace evolution of man from lower species (page 126); declares that “ghosts” are “earthbound souls” (page 187) who may legitimately communication with the living (page 182); and claims that the dead should be ministered to by the church (page 183). He argues that reincarnation is biblical and was even “validated by Jesus” (pages 197-209) and that such a gospel is helpful for India because it allows “the Hindu to maintain … the concept of karma-reincarnation” (page 215). He also recommends regression into past lives as a standard method of spiritual healing (pages 151-163) Leading charismatic take comfort in having the support of such a heretic!⁴⁵⁾Dave Hunt, Occult Invasion, Harvest House Publishers, 1998, p. 507

For DeArteaga to attempt to refute Dave Hunt’s exposure of occultism seducing the churches is comparable to being caught red-handed and saying “I didn’t do it.” DeArteaga oddly finds heretics to be God’s gift to the church stating, “Heretics can be used by God whenever the elect (the church) are too stubborn to hear the voice of the Lord directly or pay attention to its prophets.”⁴⁶⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 150 This statement would beg the question, since DeArteaga defended many heretics in his book, is he considering them as heretics used by God, thus making them prophets of God? He even offers historical heretics as heroes. “In fact, both Tertullian and Origen remained well within the bounds of biblical revelation.”⁴⁷⁾William DeArteaga, Quenching the Spirit, Creation House, 1992, p. 152

Tertullian was orthodox in his early year’s writings against the very heresies he would soon teach. Around 197 A.D., he wrote, “They will, besides, add a good deal respecting the high authority of each doctor of heresy—how that these mightily strengthened belief in their own doctrine; how that they raised the dead, restored the sick, foretold the future, that so they might deservedly be regarded as apostles. As if this caution was not also in the written record: that many should come who were to work even the greatest miracles, in defence of the deceit of their corrupt preaching.”⁴⁸⁾Tertullian, On Prescription Against Heretics, chap. XLIV; The Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson; 1885-1887, Hendrickson, 1994, Vol. 3, p. 264; as cited by David W. Bercot, editor, A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1998, p. 453 In 203 A.D., he became affiliated with Montanus, the false prophet who led the first charismatic cult. Ed Reese records,

…but in 207, he formed his own sect, the Tertullianists, which have survived until the fifth century. He practiced healing, prophecy, and tongues. He separated “apostles” (spirit fully) from “believers” (spirit partially)…. He was excommunicated by Bishop Zephyrinus of Rome.⁴⁹⁾ Ed Reese, Reese Chronological Encyclopedia of Christian Biographies, AMG Publishers, 2007, p. 15

Origen was also a heretic whose “unorthodox interpretation caused his expulsion from Alexandria in 231 and from Palestine in 235.”⁵⁰⁾Ed Reese, Reese Chronological Encyclopedia of Christian Biographies, AMG Publishers, 2007, p. 20 One critic of DeArteaga’s book noted,

The premise for the book is found on the inside flap of the dust jacket: “The greatest threat to a move of the Spirit does not come from the atheists or humanists. It comes from within the church.” As the book unfolds we are astonished to discover that the Spirit’s arch-foes are none other than the Reformers, the Puritans, the Princetonians, and other likeminded evangelicals. It is difficult to imagine that someone who wishes to engage in Christian scholarship could actually take such a position, but it does not take long to learn why he does so.⁵¹⁾Gary Johnson, “Quenching the Spirit: Examining Centuries of Opposition to the Moving of the Holy Spirit,” Reformation and Revival, A Quarterly Journal for Church Leadership, Vol. 4, Num. 1, Winter 1995, http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ref-rev/04-1/4-1-johnson.pdf, accessed 7/19.11

The lack of a clear biblical gospel and the defense of obvious historical heresies is why the defense of the charismatic movement has failed to convince anyone to date. The best arguments offered is the experiences, but this argument is nothing more than mysticism and would never be capable of deciphering whether the source is God or Satan. I have  thoroughly documented the fact that mysticism is Satanic in my book Crept In Unawares: Mysticism.