Wrestling With Alligators Prophets And Theologians

For the past half-century, C. Peter Wagner has been at the leading edge of the key spiritual paradigm shifts that have been accompanied by major moves of the Holy Spirit. In the 1960s the missionary movement in South America was at its peak--and Dr. Wagner was there. In the 1970s he was a recognized authority in the church-growth movement. In the 1980s he taught a popular course at Fuller Seminary with Vineyard movement leader John Wimber that advocated praying healing for the sick, spiritual mapping, identificational repentance and spiritual warfare. Dr. Wagner coined the phrase Third Wave to describe this fresh move of the Holy Spirit--the impact of which is still being felt today. In the 1990s he became a leader of the New Apostolic Reformation, and in the new millennium he has championed the Dominion Mandate, adopting the Seven Mountain (or 7M) template for reclaiming the culture for God's kingdom. For five decades, Dr. Wagner has led the church from one great move of God to the next, riding the wave of the Spirit through changes he never imagined when he first answered God's call to ministry. In Wrestling with Alligators, Prophets, and Theologians, Wagner tells, for the first time, his personal story of ongoing transformation. Readers will get a close-up view of the seismic shifts in the church's recent history, through the eyes of one of the only people to have seen it all unfold.

ERT publishes quality articles and book reviews from around the world (both original and reprinted) from an evangelical perspective, reflecting global evangelical scholarship for the purpose of discerning the obedience of faith, and of relevance and importance to its international readership of theologians, educators, church leaders, missionaries, administrators and students. The journal is published as a ministry rather than as a commercial project, seeking to be of service to the worldwide spread of the gospel and the building up of the church and its leadership, in co-ordination with the World Evangelical Alliance’s broader mission and activities.

In 1974 nearly 3,000 evangelicals from 150 nations met at the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization. Amidst this cosmopolitan setting and in front of the most important white evangelical leaders of the United States members of the Latin American Theological Fraternity spoke out against the American Church. Fiery speeches by Ecuadorian René Padilla and Peruvian Samuel Escobar revealed a global weariness with what they described as an American style of coldly efficient mission wedded to a myopic, right-leaning politics. Their bold critiques electrified Christians from around the world. The dramatic growth of Christianity around the world in the last century has shifted the balance of power within the faith away from traditional strongholds in Europe and the United States. To be sure, evangelical populists who voted for Donald Trump have resisted certain global pressures, and Western missionaries have carried Christian Americanism abroad. But the line of influence has also run the other way. David R. Swartz demonstrates that evangelicals in the Global South spoke back to American evangelicals on matters of race, imperialism, theology, sexuality, and social justice. From the left, they pushed for racial egalitarianism, ecumenism, and more substantial development efforts. From the right, they advocated for a conservative sexual ethic grounded in postcolonial logic. As Christian immigration to the United States burgeoned in the wake of the Immigration Act of 1965, global evangelicals forced many American Christians to think more critically about their own assumptions. The United States is just one node of a sprawling global network that includes Korea, India, Switzerland, the Philippines, Guatemala, Uganda, and Thailand. Telling stories of resistance, accommodation, and cooperation, Swartz shows that evangelical networks not only go out to, but also come from, the ends of the earth.

“My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). The modern church is in grave danger. If you pay attention at all, this is easy to see. One of the reasons we are in grave danger is our lack of knowledge. The late Dr. R. C. Sproul once said, “Everyone is a theologian.” The danger here lies in that if we do not have a correct understanding of God and his attributes, we will create an idol of who we would like God to be. Scripture tells us to love God with our whole minds. A study of church history and of theology will help us accomplish this. What you will find within the pages of this study is an emphasis on theology and doctrine as it was forced to become razor sharp due to people making God into the god they idolized. As you proceed through these chapters you will be faced with questions that will help you to learn how to think critically. You will learn many of the attributes of God. You will also learn Christology, soteriology, hermeneutics, apologetics, polemics, and a number of other tools to help guide you into who the biblical God truly is.

Make the Paradigm Shift That Will Change Your Life . . . and the World A "paradigm shift" is a radical change in your way of thinking--and C. Peter Wagner has undergone a number of them during his decades of ministry. Now he invites you to open your mind to the Holy Spirit's paradigm-shifting power. This Changes Everything is your essential guidebook for how God is transforming the world through people just like you. Discover new movements of God's Spirit that are turning the tide against the evil one, opening wide the doors of heaven to usher in God's reign on the earth. Find out what these powerful new strategies mean for Christians' involvement in business, politics, education and entertainment, and learn how you can be a part of what God is doing in your sphere of influence. Find clear, biblical answers to questions such as: • Is wealth a legitimate tool of the Church? • How do today's workplace apostles lead in spiritual battle? • Does God allow His people to make some decisions about the future? • How is dominion theology operational in our world today? God is calling you to a new way of life, starting with a new way of thinking. When your mind is renewed, you will never be the same!

Aspects of the 2017 Final Report of the South African Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) have drawn strong criticism, particularly from South African scholars, politicians and the public. The criticism is largely regarding the constitutionality of its recommendation, which calls for regulation of the Religion to combat its abuse and commercialization. Scholars have criticized the CRL Rights Commission for hastening its investigation and releasing the final report without having a substantive understanding of what is meant by the commercialization of religion, and consequently the unconstitutional implications of the recommendation, to regulate religion. A close reading of this critique has pointed to the urgent need to assemble a cumulative body of research that examines and advances understanding of what is meant by the commercialization of religion. Accordingly, this book gathers scholarly contributions which offer valuable insights into the basics of what is meant by the commercialization of religion. Contributors examine this phenomenon from the historical roots to the manifestation in the contemporary world, particularly in South Africa.

In 1906, a new religious phenomenon emerged from California. Then, just over sixty years later, a million-fold expansion occurred. What was the catalyst for this explosion of growth? The Pentecostal Paradox explores the history and rise of a new religious movement called the Pentecostals. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, newspaper articles of the day, and other long-forgotten sources, author G. J. Hocking weaves together an accurate history of the movement to the present day. Filled with fascinating stories—the mailing lists of over 50,000 subscribers go missing; a preacher hijacked the pulpit causing untold havoc; a report of flames shooting fifty feet in the air—The Pentecostal Paradox asks: Were these events fact, fiction, or real phenomena? In this timely work, California the Charismatic Cradle features prominently as the author juxtaposes the rise of Pentecostalism with both the California gold rush and the San Francisco earthquake. Eventually, a “God Rush” occurred in 1906 as many rushed to Azusa Street, Los Angeles. How will this book shed light on this vast group? What next for Pentecostalism? These questions are answered in a candid and yet concise way in this much-needed analysis of the Pentecostal movement.

Award of Merit, 2019 Christianity Today Book Awards (History/Biography) More than forty years ago, conservative Christianity emerged as a major force in American political life. Since then the movement has been analyzed and over-analyzed, declared triumphant and, more than once, given up for dead. But because outside observers have maintained a near-relentless focus on domestic politics, the most transformative development over the last several decades--the explosive growth of Christianity in the global south--has gone unrecognized by the wider public, even as it has transformed evangelical life, both in the US and abroad. The Kingdom of God Has No Borders offers a daring new perspective on conservative Christianity by shifting the lens to focus on the world outside US borders. Melani McAlister offers a sweeping narrative of the last fifty years of evangelical history, weaving a fascinating tale that upends much of what we know--or think we know--about American evangelicals. She takes us to the Congo in the 1960s, where Christians were enmeshed in a complicated interplay of missionary zeal, Cold War politics, racial hierarchy, and anti-colonial struggle. She shows us how evangelical efforts to convert non-Christians have placed them in direct conflict with Islam at flash points across the globe. And she examines how Christian leaders have fought to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa while at the same time supporting harsh repression of LGBTQ communities. Through these and other stories, McAlister focuses on the many ways in which looking at evangelicals abroad complicates conventional ideas about evangelicalism. We can't truly understand how conservative Christians see themselves and their place in the world unless we look beyond our shores.