Pentecostals Archives - Charles A. Sullivan

History, Faith, Politics, and COVID

August 15, 2021May 17, 2021

COVID from historical, literary, political, ecclesiastical, and Bible perspectives. An eclectic mix from a Canadian viewpoint that produces surprising results.

History has a lesson of repeating itself and COVID is no different. Each plague unearths a new set of social problems that need address. There comes a point where history cannot give all the answers. Contemporary society is forced to make difficult but necessary changes within their particular context while avoiding the dangerous pitfalls on the way.

The goal here is to briefly touch on the history of pandemics through historical literature including the Bible, explore theological questions, and arrive at some political realities.

The Irvingite Influence on Pentecostalism

December 8, 2020November 5, 2020

Examining the influence of the Irvingite movement on the birth of Pentecostalism.

The London-based Irvingite movement revived the supernatural expressions within the church body and inspired a new framework for Christian living that reverberated throughout the Western world.

It makes one wonder, if there was no antecedent of the Irvingites in the 1830s, would there have been a Pentecostal movement?

The Pentecostal Rewrite of the History of Speaking in Tongues

February 16, 2021March 27, 2019

How Pentecostals built their historical framework for their doctrine of tongues from Higher Criticism literature–a necessary but unlikely relationship.

This merging of two opposed systems, one dependent on the supernatural, and the other focused on the rational and logical with no reference to any divine entity, makes for one of the most major shifts in the history of the christian doctrine of tongues.

As shown throughout the Gift of Tongues Project, tongues as an ecstatic utterance was a new addition to the doctrine of tongues in the 19th century. There is no historical antecedent for ecstatic utterance, glossolalia and their variances before this era. Nor is there a connection with the majority of ecclesiastical writings over 1800 years which had a different trajectory.

9 Points on the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

November 15, 2022June 6, 2018

Nine points Pentecostals and Charismatic families of churches must do to build healthy relationships with the nation of Israel, Jews, and Palestinians.

Pentecostals, traditional Charismatics, and third-wave Charismatics are collectively called Renewalists. They staunchly support the nation of Israel regardless of whatever behavior this nation exhibits. Is this a good thing?

No. It is not.

There is a great need within the Renewalist movement to build a fair and balanced relationship with the nation of Israel, Jews, and Palestinians. The current oral tradition is sorely lacking equality towards Palestinians in general and Palestinian Christians in particular.

A History of Other Tongues in the English Bible infographic

January 12, 2019April 10, 2017

The following infographic was created to describe why other tongues, otherwise known as strange tongues or unknown tongues was added to I Corinthians. The results may surprise many observers — this idiom was an English Bible translation phenomenon that started in the 1500s.

Solutions to the Pentecostal Tongues Crisis

February 11, 2021March 2, 2017

Pentecostal solutions to the missionary tongues and gibberish crisis. Early Pentecostal excitement and enthusiasm for missionary tongues in foreign nations failed. They also had a serious challenge on the home front. The general public mocked them for speaking gibberish. These circumstances created an urgent need to build a Pentecostal apologetic for their speaking in tongues. …

Early Pentecostal Tongues: Intro

February 16, 2021February 28, 2017

This five-part series (including the introduction) covers how the traditional definition of tongues all but died and replaced by a wider set of expressions; the language of adoration, singing and writing in tongues, and a private prayer language. This series was started to settle a mystery – why the doctrine of tongues had changed so …

A Catholic History of Tongues: 30 to 1748 AD

November 16, 2022November 29, 2016

A Catholic history of speaking in tongues from the first Pentecost until the rule of Pope Benedict the XIV, 1748 AD.

The following are the results of a detailed study of early church, medieval and later medieval Catholic writers through seventeen-centuries of church life.

Film Review: God Loves Uganda

December 23, 2018May 25, 2014

God Loves Uganda — a faulty premise that neglects important details and falls for grandiose stereotyping.

This documentary film by the acclaimed director Roger Ross Williams is a story about the complex mix of homosexuality, faith and politics in Uganda. He sees it as religious fanaticism stoking the flames of hatred and forcefully blames the influence of American evangelicals as the root cause of Ugandan homophobia.

His documentary thesis is supported by filming a devoted group of followers, and highlighting one of their former leaders, Lou Engle, from the International House of Prayer — an unaffiliated charismatic community located in Kansas City.

Pentecostals and Israel

April 16, 2023July 6, 2013

The connection between Pentecostals, Christian Zionism, Judaism and the State of Israel.