Counterfeit Revival

Rating:
Summary: Calvary Chapel?
Review: As a charismatic who has worked closely with Counterfeit Revivalists, this book has been crystal clear many of the questions that I have quietly pondered but never dared to publicly voice. I believe that all Christians should read and study this book as it will help you to discern if you choose to go into ministry.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Misleading
Review: Hanegraaff takes the worst example in all of the charismatic movement (which includes 500 Million followers in every Christian denomination) and then makes it look like all of us charismatics are like those guys. People, open your eyes! I am a charismatic and condemn the "Word of Faith" movement like most charismatics do. Find a good charismatic church, like the Church of God, or Assemblies of God, and you will likely find that your preconceived notions and expectations will be destroyed.

Please read "Surprised by the Power of the Spirit" by Jack Deere, a former cessationalist and Dallas Theological Seminary professor. It will open your eyes. The gifts have not ended. However, it's EXTREMELY importance to discern between the true gifts and the counterfeit gifts. Both are out there.

Please read "http://www.mslick.com/gifts.htm to see clearly why there is no basis in Scripture for the gifts ending. They were never meant to end, they never did, and are alive today among 500 Million Christians. The charismatic movement is growing faster than even Islam, and within 20 years will outnumber Catholics. Why? I'd encourage you to find out for yourself. God Bless.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for All Believers Who Want the Real Truth
Review: I just received Hank's book "Counterfeit Revival". What I have read, is really awesome. I like the way the book is presented with the 5 sections spelling the Acronym: F L E S H. It is important that we understand the nature of the Holy Spirit. Yes, He moves and gives gifts to the church. However, He is a gentleman Who doesn't act unseemly. He is Intelligent, all-knowing, all-powerful! I know that some charismatics and pentecostals are angry about his position on some things; but this "pentecostal" is not. He is telling the naked truth. This book is comfirmation regarding some VCR tapes I received years ago regarding Toronto & Pensacola. Yes, there is a false anointing/false wind going around in the church. We must be careful not to put experiences above the Word of God. The Word of God is the ULTIMATE AUTHORITY on every issue. Let God be true and every man a liar. I was caught up in alot of this activity years ago because I was searching for some spiritual experience. I know now, that everything I need is in the Word of God. Although, I'm leaning more to cessationism, I will not say it's impossible for God to use gifts such as tongues, miracles, prophecy, etc. today; but they must follow biblical guidelines. For instance, tongues must be a known language, not some "heavenly language" or ecstatical babbling AND THEY MUST BE INTERPRETED!!! NO INTERPRETER; NO TONGUES!!!! That 's the Word. Again, this book is A MUST FOR EVERYONE WHO WANTS THE TRUTH!!!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Hypocrisy at its best
Review: I listened to the cassette version of this. There is a big problem. The author uses the same tactics as the people he is exposing. He accuses them of suggestive music and words, and what does he use on his cassette version? The same thing--you would think you were listening to a halloween haunted house with the kind of music he uses on the cassette version of this book. And the biggest problem and most serious problem is this---he is trying to discredit many Christians based on the errors of a few. That's like the atheist saying Christianity is bad or fake because of its problems. The Charismatic Movement is a movement among many Christians. And when that occurs there will be error, but that doesn't make the whole thing a fake. Did St. Paul the Apostle discredit the Corinthian Christians and their spiritual experiences just because a few were in error or misbehaving? No. Take a look at Websites that defend the Charismatic and Faith movements before judging just by this author's opinions. I did and found he is only showing a partial truth and that his term "Counterfeit Revival" is wrong. There are counterfeits within any revival or movement, but we don't trash the whole because of those few counterfeits. We could discredit many things in this world if we examine the mistakes of a few---have all presidents of the US been good? Of course not. Does that mean we just trash the USA as a fake nation or something? Of course not. Cars break down. Does that mean we just discredit motorized transportation? No. Some people make fake money; does that mean we avoid using currency of any kind? Again, no. And so with revival, if there are false teachers, do we just trash it all as fake? No. In the end I think all it is is that Mr. Hanegraaf would like all Christians to act and worship God according to what he thinks is the correct way. Another thing he avoided was letting people in the Charismatic Movement testify how God has helped save them from the power of sin and Satan.

Rating:
Summary: Read this book
Review: Many people cry out and hunger for revival, but we should seek reformation of the church and revival of the culture. Hank is loved and hated by many, but he is a very clear thinker. In this book he exposes some of these things that are suppose to be the new movement of the Spirit. It shows that the teachers and preacher in the movement misuse and out abuse the Holy Writ to prove there point. Rather that having Scriptures dictate what the church do in seeking revival, they let all kinds of things dictate it. I always, anytime in this day and age, you see a big tend of some sort in the church, it's probably not of God. Why? Because most Christians today are biblically illiterate. I never follow Christians because they are Christians, they probably don't know what they are following.

Good Job Hank

Rating:
Summary: Not in the same class as Hank's radio "ministry"
Review: Some readers have panned Hank's book because they object to its thesis that modern-day charismatic excesses are obscuring the true value proposition of Christianity. Most of these reviewers (if indeed they have read the book) seem to take the "end justifies the means" position and insist that Hank is wrong to discount any approach that ultimately saves souls.

As a rationalist, I find this debate to be beside the point--akin to a pair of modern Aristotleans fighting over the right way to convince other natural philosophers that our Earth is at the center of the Universe. My interest lies in understanding what makes religious value propositions so compelling that they can continue to flourish and spawn such eccentricities in a modern age so dominated by the progressive fruit of human endeavors.

I was disappointed in the book not because its thesis was weak, but rather because Hank presented it in such an inferior manner when compared to that of his radio platform. Hank's book takes the approach of "first, tell them what you're about to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them." He recycles phrases, paragraphs, and--seemingly--entire chapters as he goes about pounding home his points! It just doesn't make for compelling reading, and Hank's determined, dogged dedication to alliteration and unmemorable mnemonics seems downright weird at times.

In the final analysis, Hank's Bible Answer Man program conveys the same messages in a much more accessible manner, and I would not recommend this book to anyone who is already familiar with BAM. One redeeming quality of the book is that it's loaded with endnotes that might benefit a scholar, but the text itself is a real disappointment and a chore to get through.

Rating:
Summary: Not in the same class as Hank's radio "ministry"
Review: Some readers have panned Hank's book because they object to its thesis that modern-day charismatic excesses are obscuring the true value proposition of Christianity. Most of these reviewers (if indeed they have read the book) seem to take the "end justifies the means" position and insist that Hank is wrong to discount any approach that ultimately saves souls.

As a rationalist, I find this debate to be beside the point--akin to a pair of modern Aristotleans fighting over the right way to convince other natural philosophers that our Earth is at the center of the Universe. My interest lies in understanding what makes religious value propositions so compelling that they can continue to flourish and spawn such eccentricities in a modern age so dominated by the progressive fruit of human endeavors.

I was disappointed in the book not because its thesis was weak, but rather because Hank presented it in such an inferior manner when compared to that of his radio platform. Hank's book takes the approach of "first, tell them what you're about to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them." He recycles phrases, paragraphs, and--seemingly--entire chapters as he goes about pounding home his points! It just doesn't make for compelling reading, and Hank's determined, dogged dedication to alliteration and unmemorable mnemonics seems downright weird at times.

In the final analysis, Hank's Bible Answer Man program conveys the same messages in a much more accessible manner, and I would not recommend this book to anyone who is already familiar with BAM. One redeeming quality of the book is that it's loaded with endnotes that might benefit a scholar, but the text itself is a real disappointment and a chore to get through.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: The audio tapes are terrific too. Important stuff exposing the false teachings that are running rampant throughout the church.

Rating:
Summary: How to NOT Get the Holy Spirit! But Too Much In-fighting
Review: This book is a real page turner. It reads like a juicy expose' story that shows how certain small, infamous religious organizations are teaching and preaching a phoney doctrine of getting the Holy Spirit via thrilling sensations and unprovable "miracles" or hypnotic suggestion. This book cannot cover every phoney ministry in the country, but it gets the point across by going very in-depth with a few of the worst cases, both recently and since the inception of the New World, America.

I learned a lot about what SEEMS to be very impressive events occurring at fake worship sessions, and how it is mostly, or entirely, a show biz type trick, with techniques that have been in use for at least over 200 years. I was also surprised that I got a good overview and fresh exposure to many classic Christian writers and thinkers, such as Jonathan Edwards.

To me, the main proof that "Counterfeit Revival"'s described events are NOT the work of the Holy Spirit is that there is no evidence of these "newly converted" becoming Christians with hearts for Christian Service and doing good works. Instead, this book shows that the counterfeit converts seem to only become junkies for more and more thrills and chills at endless counterfeit worship services. It becomes a self-serving religiousity. Real Christians get the Holy Spirit and go out and do good works. These counterfeit Christians keep going back for more fun and entertainment for themselves.

The only down-side to this book is that the author seems to be in long-running relationships and arguments with many of the contemporary characters discussed in the book, while the Bible says we should avoid getting in endless arguments because it can cause confusion among people that don't understand Scripture very well, (2 Timothy 2:23-24, perhaps applies well here).

This book shows what to NOT get involved with, in your personal search for better understanding of the Holy Spirit, and in your Christian walk. But this book doesn't really tell you HOW TO get in touch with the Holy Spirit, though it does use tons of Biblical chapter:verse to discredit the counterfeit techniques.

If you're looking for good direction about HOW TO get a better understanding and relationship with the REAL Holy Spirit, then I would heartily recommend a book titled, "The Fire That Ignites" by Tony Evans.

Rating:
Summary: Exposition of Latest Charismatic Revivals
Review: With many playbacks of recording in the charismatic churches, Hanegraff lively exposes the last charismatic revivals of the third charismatic wave. He arranged the many playbacks so as to document the leaders, the history, the expansion , some hoaxes and lies,and the damage caused by the last waves. He deals mostly with the recent Pensacola revival ( coming from the Brownsville church in Pensacola, and characterized by drunkenness in the spirit, spiritual parties, head-shaking, and much more) and some older revivals (church growth / Toronto / Vineyard, characterized by Faith-Healing, animal behavior, slaying in the spirit, pseudo-signs and alleged wonders, etc. )

I find these tapes much more valuable than the book (although I recommend buying the book also, for overview, quick browsing and reference), as some of these things are so hard to believe that it is better to hear the charismatic leaders when they spoke in their church. Also the tapes expose the way these charismatic leaders address their congregations and desinvoltely speak about holy issues in church; they also include recordings of many spiritual experiences, such as animal (charismatic) sounds, which are definitively worth listening to. Actually a video compilation would document some phenomena even better.

Hanegraff shows that these revivals are counterfeit and are completely opposed to Christian revivals. In particular, he compares these revivals to the revival of Johnathan Edwards, a revivalist preached of the 18th century, to whom the charismatic (wrongly) refer to vindicate their revivals. Hanegraaff sometimes points to psycho-social phenomena in the charismatic revivals as well as to their satanic origin, yet without giving support for these assertions, except for the demonic orgin of the first wave, the Pentacostal one, at Azuza Street, in L. A. at the beginning of the century. He documents somewhat the leading role of spiritists and mediums at Azuza street.

Deep studies are beyond the scope of his work, which does not ! require any academic skills and will be comprehensible to all charismatics, if they accept listening to it. I think that more work need to be done on these revivals, in the spirit of the seminal academic studies made by psychologists on the glossolalic (tongues) phenomenum on the first and second charismatic waves (I have in mind some books such as Kildahl's or Samarin's).

I think that Hanegraaff is seriously mistaken about 1Co 14. He denounces the glossolalia practiced by the charismatics who claim to speak in foreign languages, showing that they never do, but then goes as far as denying that the languages mentionned in 1 Co 14 were not foreign languages used in the international church at Corinth. Hanegraaf claims that the gift of language is not for speaking foreign languages, but for praying to God. Thus he implies that this gift is actually the occult practice of glossolalia, which is a very serious theological mistake. Besides this negative point, I wholeheatly recommend these audio tapes. The evil coming from these charismatic revivals is reaching out worldwide, and a responsible Christian would do well to be warned about these phenomena.