11AR16-29

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Apologia Report 16:29 (1,079)

August 18, 2011

Subject: Does the Bible advocate occultism?

In this issue:

BIBLICAL RELIABILITY - an attack on the "popular proponents of inerrancy" using the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy

BICKLE, MIKE - controversy surrounding the "self-trained evangelical pastor" shifts to his International House of Prayer

OCCULTISM - an introduction to Shamanism and the Shamanic Complex

+ answering claims that the Bible advocates occultism

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BIBLICAL RELIABILITY

The Human Faces of God: What Scripture Reveals When It Gets God Wrong (and Why Inerrancy Tries to Hide It), by Thom Stark (Research Assistant, Emmanuel School of Religion) [1] -- Michael J. Izbicki's glowing review explains that this book is "a survey of the latest in biblical criticism. It makes archeology, textual analysis, hermeneutics, and other obscure fields accessible to non-scholars who want to deepen their faith. And most importantly, it provides a Christian approach to understanding the Bible's apparent flaws. To Stark, 'it is a revelation of God's character' that these flaws exist. Humans are not perfect and a human product cannot be expected to fully describe God.

"The book begins by attacking popular proponents of inerrancy. Stark show that self-proclaimed inerrantists don't follow their own rules of analysis with an extensive look at the 'Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy' [www.bit.ly/nhds0s]. Although adherents to the Chicago statement claim to focus on historical and grammatical biblical analyses, in practice these principles get discarded when analyzing the difficult texts. ...

"Chapters 4 through 8 each analyze a specific biblical flaw. ... Specifically, Human Faces discusses how Judaism originated with polytheistic beliefs and monotheism only developed as a way to strengthen Jewish cultural identity; why the Bible records that Yahweh enjoyed human sacrifice; how to understand Yahweh's commands of genocide in the Old Testament; why the David and Goliath story can't possibly be true; and, hardest for most Christians to accept, that Jesus was actually wrong and believed in an imminent apocalypse." Stark's revisionist romp is endorsed by both Greg Boyd and Tony Campolo. Anglican Theological Review, 93:2 - 2011, pp362-362.

Interested in resources which counter Stark? Don't forget that this is easy to do when using the Apologia AR-chive <www.j.mp/ar-chive>. Just consult back issues of Apologia Report for this topic and related areas to find lots of helpful ideas. Also, search for "Thom Stark" within this page: <www.bit.ly/o5Sq6J>.

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BICKLE, MIKE

"Where Worship Never Pauses" by Erik Eckholm -- "Founded 12 years ago by Mike Bickle, a self-trained evangelical pastor, with a group of 20, the International House of Prayer, in a former strip mall, now draws tens of thousands of worshipers to its revival meetings. A wholly devoted cadre of 1,000 staff members, labeled missionaries, have given up careers to move here, living off donations and spending several hours a day in the prayer hall to revel in what they describe as direct communication with God. Another thousand students attend the adjacent Bible college, preparing to spread this fervent brand of Christianity. ...

"Mr. Bickle has won praise from many evangelicals, but he has also been criticized by some pastors for what they describe as unorthodox theology and a cultish atmosphere, charges that Mr. Bickle rejects. Some former students said they had been expelled for questioning the fascination with mystical healings, prophesies, angels and demons. ...

"The staff and students here are required to spend at least 25 hours a week in the prayer room, and they also engage in weekly fasts of a day or more. The focused worship, Mr. Bickle says, affects real-world events by weakening the demons and strengthening the angels that swirl among us. ...

"Mr. Bickle has had a controversial 30-year career. As a pastor in Kansas City in the 1980s, he led a group of men claiming to be prophets; other pastors attacked them as false, and some of Mr. Bickle’s colleagues were discredited by personal scandals.

"His emphasis changed from prophecy to preparation for the end times. ...

"The church goes by the acronym IHOP in its teaching materials and Web site, and this year the International House of Pancakes filed a lawsuit charging trademark infringement. Mr. Bickle says that the duplication was not intentional and that he will fight to keep the name." New York Times, Jul 9 '11, pA13. <www.tinyurl.com/3hn3zxt>

Eckholm's remark that "Bickle has had a controversial 30-year career" is quite an understatement. Consider the findings here: <www.apologeticsindex.org/b56.html>

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OCCULTISM

"Shamanism and the Shamanic Complex" by Pieter F. Craffert (New Testament and Early Christian Studies, University of South Africa) -- the abstract reads: "The purpose of this article is to introduce biblical interpreters to shamanism and the study of the shamanic complex. The shaman represents an identifiable pattern of religious entrepreneurs with shared practices and beliefs based on alternate states of consciousness experiences. Based on the bodily and neurological potential for alternate states of consciousness experiences, shamanism finds unique expression within different cultural settings. Shamanic studies also provide the potential for understanding and analyzing various aspects of the biblical tradition. In the final section visionary, ecstatic and prophetic stories as well as other alternate states of consciousness experiences associated with figures such as Paul and Jesus, are presented."

By "shamanic complex" Craffert means "a family of traditions which, as a regularly occurring pattern in many cultural systems, consists of a configuration of controlled ASC [altered states of consciousness] experiences and certain social functions that flow from these experiences and that benefit a community." Biblical Theology Bulletin, 41:3 - 2011, pp151-161.

Craffert also makes the connection to spirit possession as a major aspect of shamanism, but doesn't seem to appreciate the New Age affinity for his subject or emphasize the frequent use of hallucinogenic substances by shamans.

Note: Craffert is also the author of The Life of a Galilean Shaman: Jesus of Nazareth in Anthropological-Historical Perspective [2].

"Biblical Occultism: Does Scripture Advocate Occultism?" by John Ferrer -- after spending significant time exposed to the thinking of New Agers, one discovers all kinds of excuses used to justify the occult worldview. Ferrer's work may be of service in this regard.

He begins: "An easy case can be made that the Bible strictly forbids occultism. ... However, Scripture has more to say about occultism than simply 'don't do it.' ... Does the use of Urim and Thummim constitute divination? What about 'casting lots?' And the 'trial by ordeal' in Numbers 5 designed to test a woman's fidelity sounds like a magic ritual, right? Did not Saul and the Witch of Endor actually call up the spirit of Samuel? ...

"In this article, first occultism will be defined in contradistinction from 'religion' and from 'science.' Then four supposed examples of 'biblical occultism' [noted above] will be given in light of these three categories of causality - natural, supernatural, and non-natural/occult. Though these examples represent real difficulties, they do not necessarily constitute an affirmation of occultism, and so the voice of Scripture remains harmonious in prohibiting occultism." Christian Apologetics Journal, 9:1 - 2011, pp25-48.

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SOURCES: Monographs

1 - The Human Faces of God: What Scripture Reveals When It Gets God Wrong (and Why Inerrancy Tries to Hide It), by Thom Stark (Wipf & Stock, 2010, paperback, 268 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/3py8yat>

2 - Life of a Galilean Shaman: Jesus of Nazareth in Anthropological-Historical Perspective, by Pieter F. Craffert (James Clarke, 2008, paperback, 470 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/3j49fml>

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