Anaheim Vineyard 2003 photo by David Cloud
A July 24 report by Vineyard Pastor Duke Taber announces that “Vineyard USA Returns to Roots.” He is referring to a return to the position of the late Vineyard leader John Wimber, a position that was called “The Third Wave” of the Holy Spirit (the first being Pentecostalism, the second, the charismatic movement). Wimber conducted “signs and wonders” conferences, teaching the error that effective evangelism requires the working of apostolic-style sign miracles (though he never did such miracles). In his healing seminar, Wimber made the following statement, “It’s evil when you hide behind doctrinal beliefs that curtail and control the work of the Spirit.” (Wimber, Healing Seminar Series, cited from Testing the Fruit of the Vineyard by John Goodwin). In a 1994 visit to the Anaheim Vineyard pastored by Wimber, Phillip Johnson was an eyewitness when one of the elders said to the crowd, “Don’t be alarmed by anything you see ... And above all, don’t try to rationally evaluate the things you will see. ... Subjecting the revival to doctrinal tests is the surest way to put out the fire” (“My Visit to the Anaheim Vineyard,” 1995). At the same meeting at the Anaheim Vineyard a female church staff member led in public prayer with these words: “We refuse to critique with our minds the work that You want to do in our hearts. We refuse to subject Your work to our little doctrinal tests.” This is the same philosophy that is encapsulated in the popular charismatic saying, “Don’t put God in a box.” If the “box” referred to is human tradition, that saying is true; but more often than not, the “box” refers even to the Bible. Such a mindset leaves one open to spiritual delusion. If the Holy Spirit operates contrary to the Scripture in any sense whatsoever, there is no way to discern between the true Spirit and the false. This subtle undermining of biblical authority is one reason why unscriptural things such as spirit slaying, spiritual drunkenness, “holy laughter,” and imperfect prophesying have been accepted in Vineyard churches. As evidence that the Vineyard is returning to its Wimber roots, Taber points to the participation by “notable” Pentecostal preachers Jack Hayford and Reinhard Bonnke in the 2013 Association of Vineyard Churches annual forum at the Anaheim Vineyard. Hayford is notable for his claim that God spoke to him and told him not to judge the Catholic Church and for his heresy that tongues speaking is a learning process that begins with “baby tongues,” and Bonnke is “notable” for his bogus healing crusades. (For more about John Wimber and the Vineyard Churches and their influence in the contemporary worship movement, see The Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians, available as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org.) (Friday Church News Notes, August 16, 2013, www.wayoflife.org [email protected], 866-295-4143) Comments are closed.
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