One of the most influential books I’ve ever read remains John Wimber’s Power Evangelism. Wimber’s thesis was pretty simple: Signs and 
wonders, spiritual phenomenon, miracles, and “power encounters” are essential to the Church’s health and the expansion of the kingdom of God. Sure, Wimber went off the deep end once in a while (see: the Laughing Revival). Nevertheless, in my opinion, that perspective remains as lucid a paradigm for understanding and critiquing the Western Church as anything.
After defining Materialism, Wimber writes:
Christians cannot hold a philosophy of materialism and retain a Christian worldview. Materialism warps our thinking, softening convictions about the supernatural world of angels and demons, heaven and hell, Christ and Antichrist. We often live as though the material world is more real than the spiritual, as though material cause and effect explains all of what happens to us. (bold mine)
The Western church, asserts Wimber, is deeply influenced by a philosophy of materialism and rationalism. Unlike the Eastern Christians of the first century who believed in demons, angels, miracles, prophecies and the like, a Western church like the First Pentecostal Church of Portland, other than her Charismatic and Pentecostal brethren, have all but explained away such supernatural phenomenon.
- Exorcisms are now seen as barbaric.
- Mental illness is now seen as entirely chemical, emotional, and/or biological.
- Tongues and prophecies are explained away as part of a fading dispensation.
- Bodily resurrections never happen, nor are they expected to.
- Biblical miracles are now classified as myths or simply framed as figments of the ancient author’s imagination.
Wimber goes on to use the Western church’s drift into rationalism and materialism as evidence of a coming decline. We are drifting further from the real world, the supernatural world, and significant impact therein. The result is a rather powerless religion, one that relies on rhetoric and intellectual persuasion but lacks experiential dynamic. But this also explained, said Wimber, the startling growth of third world churches. If you are looking for an online donation and giving for your churches, visit Tithely for more information. Many of those cultures are steeped in an animistic worldview or one that already embraces the concept of spirits, visions, dreams, and miracles. They can embrace the non-materialistic, eastern worldview of Scripture with relative ease. Which led to the prediction among many missiologists at the time that Third World countries would be the most fertile breeding grounds for revival, not the Western Church with its intractable rationalism.
Power Evangelism was written in 1986 — almost 30 years ago. It has been fascinating watching those predictions come to pass. In his recent book, The Reason for God, Pastor Tim Keller talks about the explosive growth of Christianity in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. For instance, in 1900, Christians comprised just 9% of the African population and were outnumbered by Muslims four to one. Today, Christians comprise 44% of the population, passing the number of Muslims as far back as the 1960’s. Keller asks the obvious:
Why has Christianity grown so explosively in these places? African scholar Lamin Sanneh gives a most intriguing answer. Africans, he said, had a long tradition of belief in a supernatural world of good and evil spirits. When Africans began to read the Bible in their own languages many began to see in Christ the final solution to their own historic longings and aspirations as Africans.
…Sanneh argues that secularism with its anti-supernaturalism and individualism is much more destructive of local cultures and “African-ness” than Christianity is. In the Bible, Africans read of Jesus’s power over supernatural and spiritual evil and of his triumph over it on the cross. When Africans become Christians, their African-ness is converted, completed, and resolved, not replaced with European-ness or something else. Through Christianity, Africans get distance enough to critique their traditions yet still inhabit them.
Keller is speaking to Christianity’s adaptive power. Yet he touches upon a similar theme as Wimber’s, that “secularism with its anti-supernaturalism” are hostile to a biblical worldview. Christianity more easily adapts in Third World cultures, in part, because of those cultures’ “long tradition of belief in a supernatural world of good and evil spirits.” The biblical worldview consisting of angels, demons, visions, signs, and wonders, resonates with the world so many non-Westerners inhabit.
Not long ago, I had an online exchange with a popular progressive pastor and author who flat-out denied specific miracles recorded in the Bible, like Jonah and the whale, Jesus walking on water, and such. From my experience, one of the predominant characteristics of the postmodern church and religious progressives is their emphasis upon rationalism and materialism, their rejection of supernaturalism in favor of science or natural medicine as Kratom Masters. While such a view may bolster kudos from academics and rationalists, it also requires a rather serious break from the world according to Scripture.
As C.S. Lewis put it in The Screwtape Letters,
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
I am not on the Bash the Church bandwagon and not impressed by many who gleefully proclaim the American Church’s demise. Nevertheless, if there is any truth to the waning of the Western Church, I think it lies partly here, in our embrace of materialism and rationalism, our slow abandonment of a supernatural worldview. We have succumbed to one of Lewis’ proposed errors by scoffing at “devils” while hailing the “materialist.”
Thank you for your interesting essay this time. I’ll comment on a few quotes from it.
“We are drifting further from the real world, the supernatural world, and significant impact therein.”
GW: You assumption here that there the supernatural world is the real world is almost surely false. I don’t think you have any good evidence, reasons, or arguments to show that a supernatural world even exists at all.
“Which led to the prediction among many missiologists at the time that Third World countries would be the most fertile breeding grounds for revival, not the Western Church with its intractable rationalism.”
GW: The deficit of rationalism in the Third World countries is only part of the reason why they are a fertile breeding ground for a surge of Christianity there. The biggest reason is being out of control or the feeling of being out of control. Violence, poverty, and the ineffectiveness of governments contribute to this.
“From my experience, one of the predominant characteristics of the postmodern church and religious progressives is their emphasis upon rationalism and materialism, their rejection of supernaturalism in favor of medicine or science.”
GW: Yes, churches and religions are moving in the direction of reason, and that is a good thing. By the way, modern rationalism is antithetical to postmodernism.
“Nevertheless, if there is any truth to the waning of the Western Church, I think it lies partly here, in our embrace of materialism and rationalism, our slow abandonment of a supernatural worldview.”
GW: Yes, and this is a good development. The further the world gets from supernaturalism, the better off it will be.
Not really. They just choose worse, more plausible “supernatural” things. A believer in Christ is far less superstitious than a Kurzweillian transhumanist, for example; the latter believes in science as an almost magical thing without any of the cautions or ambiguity religious faith has. Or they take the religious idea and drain it of any redeeming features at all; a lot of horrrid evolutionary psychology is essentially materialistic Calvinism.
Communism gets trotted out a bit too much in arguments these days, but it really is the best example of the religious impulse set in a rationalist, materialist world. It always claimed to be “scientific,” and plenty of educated freethinkers fell for its narrative and its charms.
Gary, you said, “You assumption here that there the supernatural world is the real world is almost surely false. I don’t think you have any good evidence, reasons, or arguments to show that a supernatural world even exists at all.”
So are you an atheist? I mean, quite clearly God is supernatural. How could He be supernatural and there be no evidence of a supernatural world?
Becky
I have a few of problems with this. The first and most glaring one is the idea that mental illness isn’t mostly chemical and biological. This has contributed to an unbiblical stigma against people with OCD, Schizophrenia, Depression, etc. in the church. These people need help and support, not be told they have a demon or should have more faith.
The next problem I have is that rationalism isn’t necessarily bad. If (as most people believe) all truth is God’s truth, and if we are told to love God with all our minds as well as soul, body, and strength, then why is it bad to use our brains? As long as we realize that because we’re fallen, our brains will still make mistakes and that our reasoning will never be perfect, I don’t see a problem.
I believe in the supernatural in its order as dictated by the Bible. The problem I have with Charismatics (and I have several friends who are) is that often they are at least dualistic or worse pagan in their supernatural outlook. They treat Satan as if he is almost Godlike, something not found in the Bible but is found in John Milton. They also sometimes have a superstition about objects being cursed and those bringing a curse on Christians who have them. Where is that found in the Bible? Paul didn’t seem to have a problem going to pagan temples. People can believe in the supernatural but not believe in demons behind every bush. This is after all God’s world. He is still in control, and to act like he’s not borders on blasphemy.
It presupposes people were always right to believe mental illness was spiritual related, rather than “they didn’t know better/further revelation hadn’t occurred yet”. Only in an extreme case of “fallen world”, perhaps. Otherwise it betrays an anti-intellectualism and worship of historical opinion.
In addendum to my previous comment, why don’t we as Christians ever see scientific discovery as a miracle, or natural grace as it were. Penicillin is a miracle. The fact that we have CAT scans, x-rays, vaccines for previously fatal illnesses, these are all miracles that would not be possible without God giving humanity intelligence to discover it. Why do “biblical” miracles have look like some weird ritual? When I’ve heard people pray for miracles, it often sounds like they’re trying to strongarm God or manipulate Him. Is this biblical?
Amen.
Josh, I don’t agree with everything you said, but I’m more closely aligned with you than with Gary. I particularly like what you said about God giving us a brain and rationalism not being bad. I’d probably say, “. . . not all bad.”
I have similar thoughts when some people trot out the virtues of a Hebrew mind over against the Greek thinkers that have ruled the way Western society has understood Scripture. What seems to escape people of that persuasion is that God, in the fullness of time, sent His Son. In other words, all the pieces were in place for it being the right time for Jesus to come into the world—and I have to think that includes the philosophical understandings that underpin the Western world.
So rationalism is an outgrowth of our Greek mind. It’s not all bad. If taken to the extreme which excludes the supernatural, then it’s problematic, but I tend to think that’s the case with most extremes.
Becky
Becky,
I probably didn’t phrase my argument very well. I have a problem with atheistic rationalism/materialism. That of course is incongruent with Christianity. I’d like to reiterate that I believe in angels, miracles, Satan and demons. I am just careful. One example of this is this: I had a charismatic friend who rarely went to the gym. One day she decides to go and then announces to our prayer group that she’s in pain, and we needed pray the “pain demons” away. It doesn’t take a genius to know that this isn’t demonic activity, it’s just the way that God created our body. I personally believe that the spiritual gifts are alive and well, I just want to be careful, which I think is biblical. After all, John does tell us to test the spirits.
This may be stepping on some toes, but if I can proffer an opinion, I think that the reason the church is fading in the west isn’t because of rationalism, people aren’t really that rational – even scientists. The reason it’s fading is that for too long it has been tied to the structures of power, which sometimes made very unbiblical decisions. We as a church are now inheriting that mistake. For too long we have have lived lives that look nothing like Christ, and now people want nothing to do with Christ. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
Actually I agree with what you’re saying here, Josh. And I’ll admit, I’m a huge skeptic when I hear about modern day miracles. Yet I believe God does perform them—just not in the West very often.
But my point of disagreement to your first comment has to do with the idea that belief in demon possession necessitates ” an unbiblical stigma against people with OCD, Schizophrenia, Depression, etc. in the church.”
I’ll admit, I’ve gone back and forth on this issue, but here’s where I am today. Jesus Christ obviously believed in demon possession. He cast out who knows how many of them. The gospels also separate His healing work from His dealing with demons. So I conclude there is demon possession that can mask as mental illness. The demoniac in the tombs, for instance, who was possessed by the Legion, was clothed and “in his right mind” after Christ cast out the demons.
Does that mean that everyone with a mental illness is demon possessed? Not at all. But the reverse is also not true—because some people are mentally ill, then mental illness is never caused by demon possession.
Unfortunately, I think we in the West have come to that latter conclusion. But clearly, if the God who created the mind, who is Himself omniscient, recognized demons as the cause of certain conditions—self-mutilation, for example, and other destructive or anti-social behavior—why should we pooh-pooh the possibility? My dilemma is, I don’t know how we can ever tell if a person is mentally ill or demon possessed. But why can’t we pray for healing and/or deliverance? Why does it have to be one or the other?
Becky
Becky,
I agree with you. Demon possession can manifest as mental illness. I probably overreacted, and I’m sorry. I’m just very concerned because a recent poll showed that a significant amount of people in the evangelical church thinks that prayer and Bible study alone is enough to overcome mental illness.
I agree that we should pray for healing for any illness, physical or mental. However my question is this: we usually see medicine as an avenue of healing for physical illness, why don’t we see medicine as an avenue of healing for mental illness? Our physical and mental states are more connected than was generally understood a century ago when psychiatry was in its infancy. I don’t think its unbiblical to understand our body, mind, and soul in a more connected manner. It gives glory to God that he is so magnificent a creator.
I think we can see medicine as an avenue for dealing with mental states (no healing, as far as I’m aware of), but I go back to the question, How do we know when we’re dealing with a demon and an illness? I think for the Christian it is a different situation, but I wonder if we aren’t too quick to look at what man can do instead of standing before God and asking Him what He wants us to do. Sometimes, I have no doubt, medicine is the right answer. But always? I tend to think our society has become quick to pull that trigger.
I appreciate the discussion, Josh, and believe we are more closely aligned in our views than what I originally thought. 😉 (And I originally thought we saw eye to eye in a lot).
Becky
I actually think the Catholics have this discussion cornered. The Vatican has laid out explicitly signs and/or symptoms of demon possession and when a person is just mentally ill. I think we can learn from the Catholics in this case.
Bravo, bravo, bravo, bravo! While I may balk at your inspiration (Wimber), you are absolutely right. The further away the Christian Right and Left get from the worldview of God’s Word, the worse these assertions become. There is little difference between the miracle-denying theological liberal and the Calvinist who denies the gifts of the Spirit for today. They both flow from the same well, unbelief and a rejection of what God says. I call this “Christian rationalism” and it reeks. Thank you so very much for airing its stench and by so doing, clearing the air!
Ancillary to this, my wife and I were saved in early 1973 during the “Jesus Movement” days (yeah, we were hippies!). Shortly afterward we became good friends with a couple we’d known in high school. We had no idea then they were Christians, but not too long after my wife and I got born again, our new friends invited us to their church.
I won’t give the name, but here in town it was known at the time as one of the largest independent Baptist churches in the nation. Long story short, they told us of this guy named Peter Ruckman, and said one of his trademarks was a “chalk talk;” i.e., as he preached he’d draw an illustration of his subject at the same time; when he was done, the picture would be too. That sounded very cool to us, and we eagerly went with our friends. I’ll have to say the first 2/3 of Ruckman’s sermon was riveting, and we were enjoying it immensely.
Until he went off the rails.
Right in the middle he stopped, faced the huge crowd, and said (paraphrased), “You know what I think is blasphemous? It’s the idea that God can still do miracles. And I hope they’re aren’t any Pentecostals here tonight, because I’m gonna let you have it!” And for the next ten minutes he mocked everything my wife and I believed about God and His works (we’d only been saved about six months, and had been attending a small, country Assembly of God church).
It seemed everyone in the church that night–and there must have been a couple thousand–were roaring with laughter as Ruckman mocked us, and we were shaken to the core. Then, as if nothing had happened at all, he went back to his chalk talk without missing a beat.
It was one of the oddest things my wife and I had ever been through, and over forty years later, I still have no idea why he did what he did. It’s absolutely puzzling.
Could some of the same arguments be brought to bear on the poly/monotheism arguments as well? I mean, we used to all be polys, but now we’re almost all monos…such a loss…we’ve rationalized there can be only one god…
Something else to keep in mind is the over inflation of the supernatural that has happened, and now the pendulum is swinging the other way into more natural explanations, and will eventually swing back but with hopefully much needed corrections.
Saying Jonah was/not swallowed by a giant fish shouldn’t even be on the same level as saying Jesus did/not walk on water. One deals with Jesus, the other deals with an event that occurred hundreds of years earlier. Please, everyone, don’t make the mistake of thinking that someone who doesn’t believe in 7 day Young Earth Creationism also utterly denies the Resurrection. Two completely, totally unrelated events that butcher the Word of God when equated.
Rejection of supernaturalism? In extreme cases, sure, in general, no. That’s a straw man and should be beneath any person discussing this who calls Christ Lord.
StuartB,
I am confused by your last two comments. Are you a polytheist then, i.e. you believe that there is more than one way to God? And what do you mean by the second – that Jonah should not be placed in the same category as Christ because Christ is divine, or that you disbelieve/reject certain parts of the Bible?
Can you clarify your meanings please? Thanks.
first, very interesting post….but even more interesting is the great discussion that you have ignited with your words!
1) I do believe the supernatural world is the real world…but so is the one we live in….God did create it after all, didn’t he? What, God created a fake world? I see the supernatural world as the “main” world to which is to be our final home…
2) science is real….and so a miracle that God has also created in this world. mental illness is very real as well….I strongly agree with Josh…..
I believe that a discussion like this one, is much more likely to further Christianity…..thank you Mike!
Do modern people reject Christ because of rationalism, or do they embrace rationalism because they have already rejected Christ? I think their are some really good points here, but the state of Western Civilization is such a broad topic that it’s easy to over simplify.
God makes himself known through our reason, through emotions, through the material world, through miracles, and probably in a dozen other ways I haven’t thought of. I think He uses them all, and as we grow in faith, we see Him more plainly in all areas of life. But if your eyes aren’t opened, not even a miracle will convince you. As Christ said himself, even if they see a man raised from the dead, there are people who are not going to believe.
Not only do people in third-world countries seem to embrace Christianity with more fervor than their Western counterparts, but they appear to be happier, and I might speculate more mentally fit. One of the prevalent observations made by missionaries within our church is how happy the people in these countries are. Most of them are extremely poverty stricken, by our standards, and yet they are always smiling and laughing.
“How do we know when we’re dealing with a demon and an illness?”
Rebecca, it’s more complicated than that. In my profession I work with the mentally ill and there is one inescapable conclusion that I can draw over the last 18 years of work — their numbers in this country are skyrocketing. We measured a 1,500 % increase in psychiatric detentions in just three years (2005 to 2008).
What do we conclude from this? Is our biology changing? Are demons running rampant in the US?
Both of those ideas face the problem that it is not happening in all demographics equally. Orthodox Jews are seeing little of the increase. “Highly religious” Christians are fairing better than society at large. The Amish are almost immune (about 1/10th the rates of depression as mainstream America). And I notice Bob’s statement above fits this pattern as well.
I’m not saying that biology is not a factor. Of course it is. I also believe in demonic possession. In fact I think I have encountered at least two. But the change in our country appears to be cultural, not biological or demonic. Our culture is fostering a worldview in which people expect to be the agents of their own personal salvation. When their expectations are not met, disillusionment sets in.
By embracing Humanism and Materialism we are running software faulty software on the biological computers of our brain. Nietzsche had no idea how right he was.
But then he struggled with mental illness as well… Maybe he did know.