So here we are Pilgrims, number four in our little thought experiment… Lord (literally) knows how far we have to go.
If anyone has read every post-to-date, please give yourself a stiff uppercut, I mean, stand up and take a bow, you deserve it!
You will be happy to know that the account of Jonny King is behind us, and now we come to Daniel B. Wallace, definitely a scholar-of-note, with his record of what lead him to review the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life, which, therefore, as it should, impacted on his practice.
We will be dealing with what is an introductory chapter (to the book) over some three posts (probably), as contained therein are also some eleven theses, which are foundational to his own personal exploration of this issue, and by way of application, to the the reader, offering us a paradigm to think through both, how this relates to our existence, and as it relates to book, the remaining chapters of Who’s Afraid of the Holy Spirit.
If you want to know more details on this book at this point, see Take One, where there is also a link (one will also be following)!
Here is Dan’s (I hope I can call you Dan, it just seems more personal, like your chapter), story, subtitled, The Uneasy Conscience of a Non-Charismatic Evangelical
By way of introduction, Dan wants to make something clear, he is a cessationist, and after giving some explanation about what this means (see Take One for relevant info.), He makes it clear that what he will affirm, particularly in the eleven theses, is meant to be understood as relating to someone who would hold what can be described as “hard” cessationism, one who believes that all the so-named sign gifts have ceased.
Affirming again that he still considers himself a cessationist (However, will you, when you read his theses?), Dan provides the reader with an insight into the trajectory of his experience and this chapter:
… the last few years have shown me that my spiritual life had gotten off track – that somehow I, along with many others in my theological tradition, have learned to do without the third person of the Trinity.
But this did not hinder my academic work. Mine had become a cognitive faith – a Christianity of the neck up. As long as I could control the text, I was happy. I lived in the half-reality that theological articulation is valid only if it is based on sound exegesis and nothing else. Like the proverbial frog in the slowly simmering pot of water, I did not sense that I was on the way to self-destruction.
Thirteen years ago, the Almighty suddenly and graciously turned up the heat. He provided me with a wake-up call to get out of the pot. I am sharing my testimony in hopes that many others who are in cauldrons of their own making might realize the danger – and get out
Before giving the reader an overview of how God had worked and is working in his life, Dan has this to say about the intent of this work:
It is our prayer that this volume will be a stimulus to move other cessationists to take more seriously the ministry of the Holy Spirit today. In short, we are asking a fundamental question that all cessationists must ask themselves: If the Holy Spirit did not die in the first century, what in the world is he doing today?
While Dan’s challenge and question may be directed toward those in the cessationist tradition, this question is relevant to all believers, what is your answer?
Long, Long ago, and far, far away, we are introduced to young Daniel Wallace, aged four, being led to the Lord by his five and a half year old brother, who was not a believer at the time, call it recruitment plus (to quote a company).
Growing up, Dan admits that he was a rather timid youth. In spite of this – or, perhaps because of this, I was a leader in the youth group.
At good old “sweet” sixteen, with anxieties abounding about whether to ask a young lady out (Dan didn’t kiss dating goodbye [thanks Josh Harris]), Dan agreed to go to a charismatic revival at Melodyland, Anaheim, California.
Do we call this divine intervention? You be the judge!
Although the speaker would say some things that disturbed young Wallace, with Dan armed and ready to go forward and point this out, the Holy Spirit would nevertheless do His work in Dan’s life.
Read how he describes this moment:
As I got up out of my seat, the Holy Spirit grabbed my heart and said, “No, this is not the reason you’re going forward. You need to get right with God.” Now, he did not speak audibly to me. These words are not to be put in red letters. But as I rose, before I took one step, I was overwhelmingly convicted of my own sin. The Spirit of God was definitely in that place… That night, January 6, 1969 was the major turning point in my life. I still celebrate it as my spiritual birthday (since the exact date of my conversion at age four was and still is a bit fuzzy).
However, the fun was just beginning for Dan, as before he left this complex that night, a man invited him to join their Huntington Beach based fellowship (say that five times fast), where Dan would become a charismatic.
Here’s how Dan describes this time and experience:
The group was vibrant in worship, courageous in evangelism. My faith was alive. My prayer life was thriving. And, for the first time in my life, I gained courage.
I would pray for hours daily, asking God to grant me the gift of tongues. After a weeknight meeting, when one of the “apostles” (apostle Bob, I believe) discovered that I had not spoken in tongues, he asked if I had been baptized in the Spirit. When I answered in the negative, he laid his hands on me and did the job right there on the sidewalk. Observing that nothing had changed, he doubted my salvation.
Not surprisingly, Dan left this group, and in time would eventually leave the charismatic movement altogether. I had seen the abuses, and noticed many things did not measure up to scripture.
However, Dan continued to passionately pursue Christ, as a non-charismatic in the Jesus movement, where he continued to passionately outwork his faith.
I continued to pray, evangelize, and read my Bible. In fact, there was a long stretch of time in which I read my New Testament, cover to cover, every week. I saw God’s hand in everything. And the Lord granted me a measure of courage that was not and is not naturally mine. Although I had left the charismatic movement, it took me a long time before I replaced my passion for Jesus Christ with a passion for the Bible.
Deciding to go to a Christian college, Biola , as a result of his interest in spiritual things, Dan would marry a beautiful Irish lass, and then go to Dallas for further training.
Through the years, after going to a Christian College and a cessationist seminary, I began to slip away from my early, vibrant contact with God. My understanding of Scripture was heightened, but my walk with God slowed down to a crawl. I took a defensive and apologetic posture in my studies of scripture. In the last several years, I began questioning the adequacy of such a stance – recognizing, subconsciously at least, that it did not satisfy my deepest longings.
Joe Aldrich, the president of Multnomah Bible College, once told me, “it takes the average seminary graduate five years to thaw out from the experience.” For most seminary graduates, I suspect, that thawing out may come through the natural course of events. But it took several crises before the Lord started to warm me up again.
The event that proved pivotal was what transpired with his son, Andy, when he was eight years old. Dan describes in enough detail to give an insight into what must have been a most challenging time for Dan and his family.
God’s providence was clearly in view throughout this time, as what started as a kick in the stomach from a bully at school, provided the context for Dan’s wife to inadvertently view Andy’s brown coloured urine… not good!
After taking him to see the appropriate individuals, the thought was that the cause of this would probably be due to a blood clot on the kidney, which is serious enough, however, after a sonogram revealed something possibly more sinister… could it be a tumor?
With surgery now a reality, this was when the nightmare began.
Before the surgery began, one of the physicians informed the Wallace’s of the following:
Mr. and Mrs. Wallace, I wouldn’t be overly worried about this operation. What the sonogram revealed may still be just a blood clot. And if it’s not a blood clot, then, most likely, it’s a benign tumor. And if it’s not benign, then it is probably a Wilm’s tumor. This is a congenital kidney cancer found in children. It’s treatable and curable. However, if it’s not a Wilm’s tumor, there is a very slight possibility that what your son has is renal cell carcinoma. But that is such a rare cancer in children that the likelihood is quite remote.
Any parent reading this will instantly be able to empathize with the soul-wrenching stress of this time, and the possibilities!!!
But who would want to imagine the worst?
As the hours during and after the surgery wore on, we found ourselves getting hit with wave after wave of dreaded news. Andy, indeed, has renal cell carcinoma (RCC). And it was not just the normal type – which was lethal enough. Andy had the more potent strain of RCC. By 1992, less than ten children ever diagnosed worldwide have lived beyond two years with this strain of RCC. Apart from radical surgery, it’s virtually untreatable and incurable, as far as medical science knows.
Just to alleviate any concerns for the readers, Andy would go through a successful surgery to remove his kidney. However, he would still have to go through various grueling tests in which his body was probed for any remnants of cancer, with the worst being the bone marrow test (Having gone through this test myself, I can affirm that it is not pleasant!!!).
This illness was and still is very rare. Globally, he was the 161st child ever diagnosed with it, which is why the Wallace’s agreed to chemotherapy, as no child has survived a return of RCC.
Listen to how Dan describes their subsequent reality.
We decided to go with chemotherapy, because the risk of not doing it, wondering whether that might kill him, was too great to bear. I cannot adequately describe what the next six months were like – for Andy, for me and his mother, for his three brothers. But I can tell you that I was in an emotional wasteland. I was angry with God and I found him to be quite distant. Here was this precious little boy who was losing his hair, and losing weight. At one point he weighed only forty-five pounds. Andy was so weak that we had to carry him everywhere, even to the bathroom
It was out of this context that the following words resonate:
Through this experience I found that the Bible was not adequate. I needed God in a personal way – not as an object of my study, but as friend, guide, comforter. I needed an existential experience of the Holy One. Quite frankly, I found that the Bible was not the answer. I found the Scriptures to be helpful – even authoritatively helpful – as a guide. But without feeling God, the Bible gave me little solace. In the midst of this “summer from hell,” I began to examine what had become of my faith. I found a longing to get closer to God, but found myself unable to do so through my normal means: exegesis, scripture reading, more exegesis. I believe that I had depersonalized God so much that when I really needed him I didn’t know how to relate. I longed for him, but found many community-wide restrictions in my cessationist environment. I looked for God, but all I found was a suffocation of the Spirit in my evangelical tradition as well as in my own heart.
These are some strong and honest words about Dan’s experience that sets the paradigmatic foundation for his eleven theses, which are fundamental in the thoughts that will flow in the subsequent pages, which we may get to next.
As I have read through this text, there are some phrases that have leapt off the page, which encourages me to want to think through these in our next time together.
As I said at beginning, the Lord literally knows where we are heading next.
However, you will have to join us to find out!
Once again, I encourage you to get a copy of this book here, particularly if you are from this traditi0n.
As a postscript, Dan Wallace has also had further battles with his own health. You can read about that here
Until Next Time
I am Jonny King
BTW: I know what you’re thinking, is Andy alright?
You can thankfully read the following description from Dan about his son’s subsequent health:
It has now been thirteen years since my son’s cancer, the event that was the catalyst for this original essay. He is doing fine – so fine that he wrestled on varsity in high school for four years and was co-captain his last two. He is now finishing up his bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas in Austin [this book was published in 2005]
Praise God!
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