My pastor called me last night and asked me to listen to a series of teachings by Andrew Womack so he could discuss them with me. After he told me that there were 5 teachings that were each about an hour I said that there was no way I could do it. To sit through 5 hours of something I’m not really interested in when I have other things to do is not the best use of my time. But he told me that it would mean a lot to him and he really needed me to listen to this stuff. So I’m obliging him.
I listened to the first message this morning and it was terrible. Womack spent the hour arguing against God’s sovereignty by painting sovereignty as hard determinism or fatalism. I’ve got two pages of notes expressing my disgust at the message. It’s as if Womack has never heard that there are different views of divine sovereignty. He also starts out with convoluted arguments about sin and forgiveness. According to Womack sin is a non-issue for God since God has already forgiven all sins. Womack says all we need to do is believe it. But that’s self-defeating. Unbelief is a sin. If God has forgiven all sins then he has forgiven unbelief. Therefore we don’t need to believe anything. Universalism is the result even though Womack says it isn’t.
What’s worse is that Womack has a strange brand of Word of Faith deism going on in his teaching. I’m now listening to his 4th message (having skipped the 2nd and 3rd installments at the request of my pastor) and this is confirmed in saying that after God created humans he “quit.” According to Womack God did everything he was gonna do way back when. Now everything is up to us. We have to believe it and appropriate it. There’s no sense in asking for anything in prayer because we already have all that we need. We just need to reach out and grab it. God doesn’t presently heal anyone because he’s already healed everyone. It’s just the folks who grab a hold of this truth that receive their healing. All the other poor saps are wasting their time. So on and so forth.
In any event, I have to get back to listening to this garbage, but I’m in pain right now. Pray for me. Or, don’t pray, just realize that God has already delivered me from this message and all I need to do is wake up to it.
B”H
Nick,
How ironic: I was listening to Womack before going to bed last night. I thought to myself, “If he represented good Pentecostal scholarship, Pentecostalism is in deeper trouble than I thought.” I’ve gleaned some good from him in the past, but it’s too little, and too far in between the good.
Good for you for standing your ground. I’ll pray for wisdom for both you and your pastor. God bless!
P.S. We’d do a lot better with our Bibles and the Spirit of God than with the teaching of most TV preachers.
The question is, what did you do to your Pastor to deserve this punishment. lol!!
I just read a small book by Andrew Womack….I’m not sure how much of what I read was simply semantics of word. Such as exactly what would be the difference in belief or acceptance? God has forgiven us, but we must accept/believe what He has done for us to make it effective. Would that = universalism?
William: There is good Pentecostal scholarship going on at present. This shouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as it.
I do reject the common charge that Pentecostalism/the charismatic movement is Pelagain with regard to salvation. People know that God saves them by his grace. I do strongly maintain that much of the movement is utterly Pelagian with regard to the ongoing Christian walk. You have to do everything.
Sean,
I actually agree with you. Pentecostal scholars are rising up in full force, and that was my point: Womack does not, in fact, represent good Pentecostal scholarship. Plus, who in his right mind would fail to recognize the scholarship of Gordon Fee or James K. A. Smith?
I would do this for no (wo)man, pastor or not!
Billy: I always thought that Womack was a Baptist! ;-) And thank you for your prayers. The discussion of the teachings went well. I pointed out a number of errors and he concurred. I was nervous because I thought he was going to tell me that he agreed with Womack. And a hearty amen to your second comment!
Marcus: I wish I knew so I could avoid doing it again!
Nancy: As far as I can tell, God has made forgiveness possible, but he’s set conditions on obtaining it, namely repentance. So we’re not already forgiven. We’re forgiven when we acknowledge our sin and repent of it. On Womack’s reading, we’re already forgiven, for everything, ever! We just need to believe it. But why should we believe it when unbelief is one of the things that has been forgiven? If it’s all already forgiven then everyone is saved whether they believe or not. It devolves into universalism when followed to its logical end.
Sean: Or in the same breath as good Baptist scholarship! ;-)
Esteban: Obviously I am a much better person than you! :-P And after listening to this for 3 hours (I skipped two messages), a much dumber person!