Miracles and the Gifts of the Spirit All Through Church History
Historian Jeff Oliver has written a three-volume series on how the gifts of the Spirit have continued all through Christian history. PneumaReview.com speaks with Jeff about his series and how we should expect God to do supernatural things through his church today.
PneumaReview.com: Tell us some of your story. What Christian traditions influenced you growing up and how did you become interested in the renewalist movement of Pentecostals and charismatics?
Jeff Oliver: I was raised in the Dutch Reformed Church in Schenectady, New York. My family moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, when I was a teenager. There we joined a Methodist Church (since there were no Reformed churches). At the Methodist Church, I was exposed to a Spirit-filled evangelist. I prayed, “Lord, whatever it is that this man has that I don’t have, I want it!” A few weeks later, a friend invited me to a downtown storefront charismatic church. I thought it was a bilingual church because one pastor spoke in a foreign language and another interpreted what he said in English. The Holy Spirit fell on me, as on the day of Pentecost, and I raised my hands and spoke in tongues. I have been a Pentecostal-charismatic ever since.
PneumaReview.com: You have written the three-volume book Pentecost to the Present. How did you become interested in writing about the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts?
Jeff Oliver: While serving as a Christian Education Director for a large independent Pentecostal church in Lakeland, Florida, the senior pastor kept teasing me saying, “Jeff, if only you were a Pentecostal, you’d be all right.” Or, “Jeff, we’re going to make a Pentecostal out of you yet!” This led me to research the nuances between Pentecostals and charismatics and the origins of Pentecostalism. But it seemed no matter how far back I went, there was always more. Finally, the Lord challenged me one day saying, “Why don’t you go back to the day of Pentecost and study church history in the order the events actually took place?” I did, and what I found was nothing short of shocking and amazing in light of an abbreviated Pentecostal history. Then I learned there was this whole pool of Pentecostal scholars who knew all this, studied and wrote books to each other about it, while the rest of the church remained largely ignorant. Someone had to tell the church.
PneumaReview.com: Briefly tell us what is contained in each volume.
Jeff Oliver: Book One: Early Prophetic and Spiritual Gifts Movements covers the period from the early church through the Middle Ages when much of Northern Europe was converted through miracle-working missionary monks. Book Two: Reformations and Awakenings covers the period from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century, including the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and how they affected Christianity both in Europe and in the New World. Book Three: Worldwide Revivals and Renewal brings us up to the present day, sparked by the 1904-05 Welsh Revival and the Azusa Street Revival in 1906 followed by the charismatic renewal and the global rise of Pentecostalism.
PneumaReview.com: What has been the response to the book so far?
Jeff Oliver: All three volumes were released in 2017 and we are already on our second print. Early reviewers say, “the books read like novels.” One said, “Jeff researches like a scholar, but writes like a pastor.” Another wrote, “an interesting and valuable read for anyone desiring a better understanding of the Holy Spirit’s work in God’s people since Pentecost.” Several prominent Christian universities and Bible colleges are already using the books. One graduate dean used them for summer coursework. Several professors are writing new courses based on the books. Others are incorporating the material into existing courses. Another school ordered several hundred copies for their incoming students. Even more amazing is the variety of schools using the books—Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Pentecostal, and charismatic—only God could do that.
PneumaReview.com: Is there a particular group of people you hope will read this book?
Jeff Oliver: Young people! David said, “One generation shall praise your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts” (Ps. 145:4). If this was true and important in biblical times, how much more in postbiblical times? Aimee Semple McPherson reintroduced a supernatural God to her generation and we must do the same today or we risk losing an entire generation. This is why I wrote each volume in plain language and why my wife and I launched Global Wakening—a ministry that is inspiring and equipping a new generation with a supernatural Christian worldview to help ignite a global wakening of God’s church.
PneumaReview.com: What was the most surprising thing you learned as you were doing research for the book?
Jeff Oliver: Learning that miracles and spiritual gifts continued in the church was shocking and amazing to me. Early Pentecostals believed the gifts of the Spirit operated in apostolic times, which they called the “early rain,” and the gifts of the Spirit operated in their day, which they called the “latter-rain,” with a two thousand-year period of relative drought in between. This is a cessationist theory. The problem with all cessationist theories (beside being scripturally and historically untrue) is they fail to take into consideration two thousand years of Jesus building His church! I was also surprised to learn that miracles frequently occurred on both sides of theological arguments. Evidently, God is not a respecter of persons, does not take sides in our petty squabbles, and is more interested in saving grace than perfect doctrine. Mark Twain famously said, “travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness” and traveling through history can do the same. There were charismatic Christians in all faiths and in every age, and there are no Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, or Pentecostals in heaven—only believers. When I wanted to know the origins of Pentecostalism, I studied Azusa Street, but the Lord led me to Pentecost—interesting!
PneumaReview.com: How does a better understanding of the Holy Spirit acting throughout history help us today?
Jeff Oliver: Without knowing what the Holy Spirit has been doing the past two thousand years, we cannot possibly understand what He is doing today, much less prepare for what He is getting ready to do. Also, knowing how God used ordinary men and women in history to do the extraordinary will inspire us to expect and believe God to do the same through us today. The great men and women of God in history had one thing in common: they studied the life of Jesus and the lives of the saints. The Bible is a series of books filled with stories of the supernatural. This series is simply a continuation of that biblical and historical narrative.
PneumaReview.com: Where can our readers learn more about your book Pentecost to the Present?
Jeff Oliver: Our website globalwakening.com or Amazon author page amazon.com/author/jeffoliver
