Heresy behind Azusa Street "revival"

ewenlin · #1 (**permalink**) 05-21-2009, 07:27 AM

Anyone can point out some of the heresies of the key people behind the azusa street revival if any?

Till now I know only of the oneness doctrine held by William J. Seymour, correct me if i'm wrong.

Anyone know more about the others? Charles Harrison Mason, Gaston Cashwell, Howard Goss?

I've been trying to find some resources for this but the library I frequent is intensively pentecostal.

***Semper Fidelis*** · #2 (**permalink**) 05-21-2009, 09:54 AM

Broadly speaking, a few of the main errors of Pentecostalism:

1. Failing to see the Redemptive Historical purpose of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts. Acts provides its own interpretation of the mass outpouring upon the laying on of Apostolic hands (Jews, Samaritans, God fearers, Gentiles) by noting that it identifies the people groups as being One in Christ. This is Peter's frank response when criticized for going in to the home of Cornelius (who am I to disagree with God....)

Thus, the division of believers into the categories of those who have/haven't received the "second blessing" is profoundly un-Biblical. It turns the explicit unity that all believers have in Christ on its head and looks to God's blessing as something to pursue on the basis of effort as opposed to faith itself being a clinging to Christ and that every benefit of union with Christ is enjoyed by all believers because God is gracious.

2. It fundamentally distorts the completeness and clarity of revelation. Interestingly, Pentecostalism shares with Judaism and Roman Catholicism and other pagan religions the notion that God's revelation is relatively obscured and either needs an oral tradition or a mystic to speak in strange tongues or predict events in obscure ways. The nature of progessing revelation is toward clarity and not mystery. Hebrews notes that God's early revelation varied but it finds its apex and completion in the revelation of the Son. Peter even notes that the Scriptures recorded provide us a more sure testimony than when he and John saw Christ on the mount of Transfiguration and heard a voice because it would not depend on fading memories or some vague interpretation about what it all meant.

The New Testament Scriptures uncovered Christ and provided all that was needed for life and godliness. It is not far off that we have to try to ascend to the heavens to determine God's will. To assert that God has stepped backward in the clarity of revelation to a time of relative immaturity is preposterous and the Pentecostal view of continuationism owes much more to pagan thought than to anything remotely Christian.

ewenlin · #3 (**permalink**) 05-21-2009, 11:36 AM

Thanks for the reply Rich. Nice summation of pentecostalism. The reason I ask is because the Azusa street incident is going to be presented this saturday and I was intending to challenge certain aspects of it.

You have to know the seminary I'm in currently is a Pentecostal one and they wouldn't see anything wrong with a non-redemptive historical view of Scripture, what with all the dipsy influences. Speaking in tongues? Well let's just not go there.

My plan is to highlight (if any) the fallacies of the doctrines held THEN, so as to forward the question that: Can a genuine work of the Spirit stem from heresy? Since so many pentecostals today trace their roots to Azusa street and hail it is a true work of the Spirit.

Any idea?

reformedminister · #4 (**permalink**) 05-21-2009, 03:06 PM

This pre-dated the Oneness controversy by about five years. To my understanding, William Seymour was a trinitarian, but a focal figure in the revival. I am not exactly sure when the controversy started but I think it was around 1911. The Assemblies of God formed in 1913. William Seymour remained an independent.

Titus35 · #5 (**permalink**) 05-21-2009, 04:54 PM

Thank you.

ewenlin · #6 (**permalink**) 05-22-2009, 12:47 AM

Thanks Rev Eppard.

Rich Koster · #7 (**permalink**) 05-22-2009, 08:45 PM

I believe they also held to a distorted Wesleyan Holiness doctrine like Smith Wigglesworth.

Clay7926 · #8 (**permalink**) 05-25-2009, 11:36 AM

You may want to pick up a copy of Thomas Fudge's book Christianity Without the Cross. While his book focuses on the birth and formation of Oneness Pentecostalism, he definitely discusses some of the heresy and problems that came out of the Azusa movement (that, and he points out how some of the folks who started the movement and some of the more interesting doctrines later recanted).

ewenlin · #9 (**permalink**) 05-31-2009, 11:50 AM

Thanks! will look into it

OPC'n · #10 (**permalink**) 05-31-2009, 11:05 PM

Interesting never had heard of the azusa street revival.

Re4mdant · #11 (**permalink**) 05-31-2009, 11:07 PM

Me neither but then again I am danish so why would I

historyb · #12 (**permalink**) 05-31-2009, 11:10 PM

The only thing I know about it is that the Assemblies of God came out of it, I learned that when I was in the Assemblies of God.

Chippy · #13 (**permalink**) 05-31-2009, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TranZ4MR

Interesting never had heard of the azusa street revival.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Re4mdant

Me neither but then again I am danish so why would I

My pastor would sometimes mention this in his preaching. It seems to me that he refers to it as the beginning of the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement in America.

Azusa_Street_Revival

Quote:

The Azusa Street Revival was a historic Pentecostal revival meeting that took place in Los Angeles, California and was led by William J. Seymour, an African American preacher. It began with a meeting on April 14, 1906 at the African Methodist Episcopal Church and continued until roughly 1915. The revival was characterized by ecstatic spiritual experiences accompanied by speaking in tongues, dramatic worship services, and inter-racial mingling. The participants received criticism from secular media and Christian theologians for behaviors considered to be outrageous and unorthodox, especially at the time. Today, the revival is considered by historians to be the primary catalyst for the spread of Pentecostalism in the 20th century

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