Jim Croft: Charismatic Superstitions and Misconceptions

Jim Croft, Charismatic Superstitions & Misconceptions (Mobile, AL: Evergreen Press, 2001), 115 + xi pages, ISBN 9781581690583.

A valuable insight into a book can often be gained through reading the introduction, where you may find the author’s original purpose and mindset for putting pen to paper (or, in the twenty-first century, fingers to keyboard). This proves to be true in the case of Jim Croft’s book as well. In the very first paragraph of his introduction, Mr. Croft expresses his concern over what he calls a “perplexing enigma” that seems to exist in the lives of many Christians, a dichotomy between Sunday living and Monday-Friday living:

Many believers have the impression that the primary way that they can please God is to fill their lives with as many overtly religious activities as possible…. During church services, they glow with the vibrant confidence that they have heavenly approval. It is as though they believe that they are fulfilling the zenith of life’s purpose solely when they are singing hymns, testifying, and listening to sermons. The enigma is that when life’s necessities call them to be occupied with other equally legitimate pursuits, the quality of the confident glow that they have heavenly approbation seems to mysteriously wane (p. vii).

Mr. Croft sees this enigma as being expressed (at least in part) in the fact that statistics indicate that there seems to be little difference between Christians and non-Christians, when it comes to such areas as the escalating divorce rate and the increasing use of prescription and over-the-counter medications for depression. Why do so many believers in Christ turn to the same methods of escapism as non-believers? This is a question that has haunted the thoughts of Christians everywhere, laypersons and leaders alike.

One of the contributing problems, according to Mr. Croft, is the perpetuation of the distinction between one’s “spiritual” life and “secular” life, which keeps Christians from experiencing the abundant life that Jesus promised his disciples:

Biblically there is no such division [between the secular and the spiritual] because all aspects of life are described as spiritual, even though they are not all primarily religious. God’s divine influence and pleasure can be experienced in every arena of life, though every arena may not be overtly religious in its content and exercise (p. viii).

Charismatic Superstitions & Misconceptions is Mr. Croft’s answer to this dilemma. He seeks to examine and refute the kinds of teachings and doctrines that contribute to this unbiblical dichotomy between the secular and the spiritual.

However, the seventy-nine doctrines and beliefs that Mr. Croft examines left this reviewer wondering, “What does this have to do with the enigma presented in the introduction?” For example, some of the “superstitions & misconceptions” that Mr. Croft considers are: “There is no such thing as the Trinity” (p. 6), “All religions are basically similar in that they all worship the same God” (p. 88), and “The Bible gives hints that there could be validity to belief in reincarnation” (p. 89). While it is indeed important for such beliefs to be examined according to God’s truth revealed in the Bible, such doctrines do not really have anything to do with a “secular vs. spiritual” dichotomy.

Unfortunately, this book also contains many errors in logic and biblical interpretation. Although many could be cited, for the sake of space only three will be examined.

1. Mr. Croft, in his introduction, makes the following statement (p. ix):

We reflect the nature of God by the type of people with whom we choose to fellowship. Normally we seek the companionship of those that [sic] are secure in who they are and express enthusiasm for their vocations and the projects of others. Conversely, we tend to avoid people who are insecure about their relationship with us. Most of us find it unpleasant to be friends with those who are frustrated with their lives. Unquestionably, God loves those who are insecure, frustrated, and needy. So should we. He graciously meets their needs and visits them with episodes of His comforting presence. So should we. It is possible, however, that like us, He finds pleasure in and prefers to abide with those who enjoy life in general.

This statement (especially the last sentence), if true, would be a source of crushing despair for those who are struggling with insecurity, frustration, and need. Such people need the assurance of their heavenly Father’s ever-abiding presence more than ever, rather than be told, “Yes, God loves you, but he doesn’t really want to spend time with you until you can be more sure of yourself.” Rather than attempting to fashion God into our image (and thus giving us an excuse not to change our motivations), we should instead strive to determine God’s motivations, and to continually ask for the Spirit’s help and guidance to become more and more like Christ.

2. In his chapter on “The Godhead,” Mr. Croft deals with the “misconception” that “Jesus was poor” (pp. 7-8). For example, Mr. Croft states, “While working in the secular field, … [Jesus] had to observe all of the various Sabbaths contained in Judaism, meaning that He took over 70 days off from any labor whatsoever each year…. He could not have afforded to take the time off unless He had a lucrative business” (p. 7). However, this last statement does not follow as a logical conclusion. Although Mr. Croft mentions 70 “days off” during the year, he neglects to clarify that these days would be observed throughout the course of the year (much like our weekends, holidays, and vacations). It is also important to realize that these days would have been observed by every faithful Jew in Jesus day-using Mr. Croft’s logic, every other Jew in Palestine would also have needed “a lucrative business” in order to “[afford] to take the time off.”

Mr. Croft also makes the interesting statement that “Jesus … had sufficient funds to give to the poor and pay the salaries and travel expenses of His team of 12 men…. Most of our well-known healing evangelists do very well financially” (p. 8). However, comparing the ministry of our Lord in first-century Palestine with the ministries of modern-day Christian leaders in Western society is a false and misleading comparison at best. Jesus did not have a paid board of directors made up of twelve elders; instead, Christ and his disciples traveled on foot from town to town (Luke 8:1; 9:57; 10:1), with no permanent place to stay (Matthew 8:20), and having to rely on the generosity of those around him (Luke 8:2-3).

One final statement by Mr. Croft on this subject is worth noting: “Most everyone would agree that any minister who could send His disciple to retrieve a gold coin from a fish’s mouth to pay taxes could not possibly qualify to be called poor” (ibid.). This is an amazing statement—if Jesus was indeed rich, why did he tell Peter to go to all the trouble of getting the coin from a fish, if he could have simply gotten the money from their “treasury”?

3. Mr. Croft also confronts the “misconception” that “[there] is no biblical evidence for the phenomena called near death experiences” (p. 110):

There is a portion of Scripture that mentions the existence of a silver cord that is broken at death when the human spirit returns to God (Eccles. 12:5-7). This cord fits the description of the tunnel of light that people allegedly travel during near death experiences. It might be a type of spiritual umbilical cord that sustains our lives from above while we are living here on earth and provides even the unconverted with the potential for communication from the eternal realm (Job 32:8; 33:4; 34:14) (ibid).

This is a case of eisegesis—reading preconceived notions into the text, rather than allowing the text to speak for itself. There is nothing within that passage of Scripture that indicates it is a reference to near death experiences:

Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed [Septuagint and Vulgate read “broken”],

or the golden bowl is broken,

or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,

or the wheel broken at the well.

Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,

and the spirit will return to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:6-7).

All of these images are used in the sense of the fragility of life and the finality of death, and stress the importance of “remembering” our Creator all the days of our lives, in light of the fact that life is short and may end unexpectedly at any time (cf. verse 1). Robert Davidson, in the “Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon” volume of The Daily Study Bible Series (Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY: 1986)), describes the imagery this way:

Two simple, yet vivid, pictures in verse 6 stress the finality of death. Both may have as their background the lordly manor and estate described in verses 3-4. The first is that of an expensive golden bowl or lamp, suspended from the ceiling by a silver chain. A link in the chain snaps or is removed; the golden lamp falls, to lie smashed on the floor. The second is that of the well in the estate. To it the women used to come every day to fill their pitchers with water drawn from the depths of the well by a pulley worked on a wheel. Now there lies beside the well only a broken pitcher and a broken wheel (p. 87, emphasis in the original).

If Mr. Croft wishes to equate the “silver cord” with the tunnel of light described in near death experiences, he would also have to explain how the “golden bowl,” the “pitcher,” and the “wheel” fit into the same experiences. Rather than trying to stretch the imagery into such a nebulous interpretation, it would make better sense hermeneutically and logically to take the imagery at face value, as the simplest interpretation.

In the end, it is this reviewer’s opinion that Mr. Croft would have produced a better volume if he had spent the 115 pages in exposition of true doctrinal deviations and misconceptions, rather than approaching the subject from his own preconceptions, which overwhelms the useful parts of this book, and can leave the reader drowning in murky doctrinal waters consisting of one part truth and three parts error.

Reviewed by Mike J. Knowles

This review originally appeared on the In Depth Resources index on the Pneuma Foundation website. The Pneuma Foundation is the publisher of PneumaReview.com.