Strange Fire?

Strange Fire: Assessing the Vineyard Movement and the Toronto Blessing
By Eric E. Wright
Evangelical Press. 368 pages. £8.95
ISBN 0 85234 349 3

This book is a very impressive piece of work. For 16 years Eric Wright served as a missionary in a tough Muslim culture.
He knows just how hard and resistant such a field is, as few others can. His heart for the Gospel and longing for God's grace in a true work of revival pulsate through his writing. So if anyone would be open to the claims of 'power evangelism' and its emphasis on the 'miraculous', this author might. Indeed he writes, 'Many missionaries wondered whether this could be the edge we needed to reach Islam.' The book's sombre conclusion is that far from 'reaping the harvest of Muslim souls', the great promise of signs and wonders has only encouraged 'divisive charismatic elements'.
However, the personal experience of this writer from the North America and international scene is only one strand of a book packed full of careful research, mature reflection on Scripture and detailed argument. The activities of the Toronto Airport Vineyard church are the focus for a deep and penetrating analysis of the whole Vineyard movement and the 'third wave' theology it promotes. The documentation runs to the early months of 1996, so it is as up-to-date as it possibly can be in such a rapidly changing scenario.
The first six chapters deal with the phenomenon at Toronto, which have since spread worldwide, with a wealth of detailed observation and informed comment. The evidences are then brought to the 'changeless standard' of the Word of God. They are also viewed against the panorama of church history, from the apostles to the great evangelical revivals, with special reference to the writings of Jonathan Edwards so often claimed in Toronto's support.
Several central chapters then examine what Wright describes as 'putting the cart of experience before the horse of Scripture' and the subsequent devaluation of theology within the movement. The great omission is shown to be the teaching and preaching of the Bible. Special attention is paid to prophecy in the Vineyard movement and to the whole concept of how 'spiritual power' is demonstrated or recognised, carefully sifting a great deal of written or verbatim sources and applying biblical criteria. The book ends with a survey from Acts of the indispensable signs of Pentecost and concludes that the 'blessing' has proved to be a divisive and 'baneful distraction'.
No pastor or church leader can afford to be without this valuable book, full of gracious pleading as well as persuasive analysis. It exemplifies that 'Puritan balance of warm godliness and sober scholarship', which J. I. Packer sees as a great need in today's church. More than that, it fires the reader to a greater passion for holiness and a deeper desire for spiritual reality.

David Jackman

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