Southern Baptists and Charismaticism

The charismatic movement has been spreading through the Southern Baptist Convention since the late 1980s and the pace is increasing with each decade. In April 1995, Charisma magazine reported that two professors at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (William Hendricks and Tim Webber) urged churches not to fear the charismatic movement. Hendricks, director of Southern’s doctoral studies, said, “We shouldn’t feel defensive or threatened by an alternative experience, perspective or insights about the Holy Spirit,” and warned that in fighting the charismatic movement “you could be fighting what is a legitimate experience of the Spirit.” In March 1999, a Charisma magazine report entitled “Shaking Southern Baptist Tradition” gave many examples of charismatic Southern Baptist congregations. At that time, Southern Baptist pastors Jack Taylor, Ron Phillips, and Gary Folds, embraced the unscriptural nonsense that occurred at the Toronto Airport Church in Ontario and Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida. This “revival” took the form of gibberish speakings, uncontrollable laughter, falling on the floor, rolling on the floor, barking like a dog, roaring like a lion, braying like a donkey, electric shocks, shakings, jerkings, and other bizarre experiences with no biblical support. Since then, Ron Phillips’ Fresh Oil & Wine Conferences at Central Baptist Church of Hixon, Tennessee, have promoted charismatic heresies. One of the speakers was Rodney Howard-Browne, the so-called “Holy Ghost Bartender.” Southern Baptist Pastor Dwain Miller of Second Baptist Church in El Dorado, Arkansas, prophesied that God would use Phillips “to bring renewal to the SBC’s 41,000 churches.” Phillips told the Tennessean newspaper that he first experienced speaking in tongues when he was sleeping! In 2008, Phillips counted 500 churches in his charismatic network (“Charismatic Southern Baptist Churches,” Baptist Standard, Oct. 30, 2008). James Robison, once a fiery Southern Baptist evangelist who preached against the theological liberalism of its schools and the worldliness of its churches, had a charismatic experience in 1979 and became a charismatic ecumenist who joins hands in fellowship and ministry with “Spirit baptized” Roman Catholics and praises Pope John Paul II as “one of the finest representatives of morality in this earth.” Bill Sharples resigned a Southern Baptist pastorate after accepting the tongues-speaking movement, but 25% of his meetings are in SBC churches and he claims that 15 to 20 percent of Southern Baptists that he meets are open to the charismatic movement. In November 2005, the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board voted to forbid missionaries to speak in tongues, but Jerry Rankin, the head of the board, said that he had spoken in a “private prayer language” for 30 years. What confusion! Speaking at a chapel service at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2006, Pastor Dwight McKissic, a trustee, told the students that he speaks in tongues in his “private prayer life” and has done so since 1981, when he was a seminary student (“Southwestern Trustee’s Sermon on Tongues Prompts Response,” Baptist Press, Aug. 30, 2006). In May 2015, the Southern Baptist International Mission Board reversed its former policy, now accepting missionaries who speak in “tongues” so long as they don’t become “disruptive” (“FAQs on Missionary Appointment Qualifications,” IMB Policy 200-1, IMB.org). One of the major bridges from the charismatic movement into Southern Baptist churches and homes is contemporary worship music. The 2008 Southern Baptist Hymnal contains a great many songs written by charismatics. About 75 of the top 100 contemporary worship songs are included. These songs are direct bridges to the one-world “church.” I don’t know of one prominent contemporary worship artist who is opposed in any practical sense to the charismatic movement and ecumenism, and that includes the Gettys. Because the SBC refuses to deal with this error consistently, the leaven will continue to spread. The Bible warns that “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” This is true for sin (1 Cor. 5:6) as well as for false doctrine (Gal. 5:9). And in a few years, someone will be writing about “tongues speaking” and other charismatic phenomena among Independent Baptists.

​(Friday Church News Notes, January 11, 2019, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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