Interview with Charles Carrin about his book Spirit-Empowered Theology

PneumaReview.com: Why did you choose to write a book on theology?

Charles Carrin: I had a specific God-instruction to write a “charismatic catechism” for the benefit of Spirit-filled believers who had no such resource. I began working and the book assumed the nature of a theological-treatise. There are 300 questions and answers on a progression of 18 sub-topics, beginning with “Who Is God?,” and including questions about the Kingdom, the Church, the Bible, Mankind, Israel, Church History, Spiritual Gifts, the Devil/Demons, and Significant People. A beneficial feature of the book is that it can be opened at any page and the reader can begin studying a “capsule” of important Christian truth. The period of study can effectively be three minutes or three hours.

 

PneumaReview.com: Whom do you feel will benefit the most from this book?

Charles Carrin: There is something for every age and specialty-interest. Youth, middle-aged, seniors, will find an introduction to the Bible, Christianity, church history, and other important information. It will be of special help to the new Christian who is just beginning their learning process of Kingdom facts, or the long-time believer who needs to re-fresh his Christian education.

 

PneumaReview.com: How did you select the subjects that you included in the book?

Charles Carrin: There were two motivations: A Catechism contains a progression of theological and historical topics. The format reads in an expanding way. One topic leads into another and as far as possible I pursued that development of thought. Themes were chosen in the hope that readers would continue pursuing them beyond the Catechism. Secondly, I prayed, seeking God’s direction for the fields I covered.

 

PneumaReview.com: Why did you include entries about things outside of the Bible, such as events and people in post apostolic church history?

Charles Carrin: I have been in ordained ministry almost 70 years and have had opportunity for long-range observations of strengths and failures among believers. Most Christians, including many pastors, are woefully uninformed about their own church history. In brief, I have included such historical facts as Emperor Theodosius decreeing in 380 A.D. that only those churches accepting Imperial endorsement and known as Roman Catholic would be recognized as official. All others would be heretic. Modern Christians need to know that there were more Bishops who boycotted this decree than accepted it. Even so, the minority was declared “official” and the others heretic. My hope is that the reader will be motivated to explore the church’s historical field far beyond what I have written. Most Protestants are unaware of their own antiquity.

PneumaReview.com: The ministry of the Holy Spirit is a major theme in the book. Please tell our readers about your personal experience of the charismatic work of the Spirit. 

Charles Carrin: As a teenager, I had a dramatic salvation experience, call to the ministry, and was ordained in 1949 in a Calvinistic Baptist Church. I believed the Scripture but was told to disregard all verses that did not fit our religious pattern. They were no longer valid. Twenty-eight years later, in 1977 when I was pastor in Atlanta, I went through the ultimate crisis of my life. Depression almost destroyed me. The attack focused on spiritual issues for which I had no answers—but were answered in the scriptures I was told to ignore.

During that time, I volunteered to become a counselor at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. My primary motive was to get my mind off my own despair. The young man to whom I was assigned had recently been delivered from drug addiction, suicide, was born again, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and operated in spiritual gifts. He was more free than I and radically challenged my theology. In effect, he began counseling me and forced me to see my own spiritual shallowness. Finally, in the Visitors Room of the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary—with mafia inmates watching—he laid hands on me to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And I was! His exact words were those Ananias spoke over Saul of Tarsus: “Brother Charles,” he said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17-18). That was the most phenomenal day of my life.

In ten minutes time I was delivered from a demon of depression, filled with the power of God, and anointed by the Holy Spirit for a new ministry. My ministry radically changed and I soon met Jack Taylor, Past President of the Southern Baptist Convention and R.T. Kendall, pastor at Westminster Chapel, London. Both had experienced the Baptism, knew my background in Reformed Theology and renewal in the Holy Spirit. R.T. invited me to preach at Westminster, the Holy Spirit fell in power, the Chapel was radically changed into a “Holy Spirit Church.” Since then, I have traveled with him and Jack Taylor, conducting more than 75 Word, Spirit, Power Conferences from England to Alaska and points across Canada and the U.S.

 

PneumaReview.com: What steps can Pentecostal/charismatic churches take to teach doctrine more effectively?

Charles Carrin: In many Pentecostal/charismatic churches there is an avoidance of scriptures they think are too strongly Calvinistic. This is understandable but unnecessary. It is the same pattern of failure with which Calvinists view the Holy Spirit’s baptism. Instead of facing the Bible totally, both groups avoid parts that are difficult to understand. The fact is this: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable…” Correction for each camp is the same: Both need to listen to the other. Arguments from each side is based on legitimate scriptures.

 

PR

Publisher’s page: http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/spirit-empowered-theology/383050

Preview Spirit-Empowered Theology: https://books.google.com/books/about/Spirit_Empowered_Theology.html?id=W9I-DQAAQBAJ