Faith Like Potatoes, or Biblical Faith?
In addition, at the same time the Lord was revealing to me, through the study of His Word, the truth about the Great Whore, the Roman Catholic institution, and about the many harlot “daughters” of Rome. I tried to share these things with Angus, but he would have none of it. Like most Charismatics, he was convinced that there were many true Christian people in the Roman Catholic institution. Well has it been said that Pentecostalism is a bridge to Rome! For when the Bible has been set aside as the sole rule of faith and practice, as it has been within Pentecostalism/Charismatism, then the door has been swung open to embrace Roman Catholicism as being of God. Like Romanism, Pentecostalism does not view the written Word of God as the sole authority. Like Romanism, it permits other sources of authority: in the case of Rome, human tradition; and in the case of Pentecostalism, “speaking in tongues” and “prophecy.” Is it any wonder, then, that when Roman Catholics are seen to be “speaking in tongues”, Pentecostals and Charismatics rejoice, and welcome them as “brethren in Christ”? After all, if the Bible is set aside, and if being “one in the Spirit” (as they believe) is all that matters, how could they possibly reject them?
And so we parted ways. And our lives took very different courses. Angus Buchan became a Charismatic preacher, taking the message of “Jesus the Healer” (in the Charismatic sense) to multiplied thousands of people around South Africa and other parts of the world. He wrote his autobiography, Faith Like Potatoes. And now – the book has become the movie.
Angus Buchan is an extremely likeable man. The Pentecostal/Charismatic movement is brim-full with charlatans, men (and women) in positions of influence behind pulpits who are nothing but liars and deceivers, and they know it, but they’re in it for the money and the fame. They do not believe a word they are saying. But there are also others in the movement who are sincerely convinced that what they are saying and claiming is the truth, the Gospel truth. And I have no reason to doubt that Angus Buchan falls into this latter category. Certainly he would have done so all those years ago, when I knew him and considered him a close friend. He apparently produces his TV programme at his own cost, and distances himself from the American “televangelists”, who (he correctly says) spend 10 minutes preaching and 20 minutes asking for money. I have no reason to doubt that he is very sincere. But as the saying goes, one can be sincerely wrong. And as an enthusiastic proponent of modern-day Charismatic heresy, he is sincerely wrong. It is an unbiblical, heretical movement. And this becomes clear in the movie itself:
According to one reviewer, “The film depicts some incredible miracles that God accomplishes through and around Angus. Perhaps, the most awe-inspiring part of the film is the point when, through the prayer of Angus, God raises to life a farm worker who had been struck dead by lightning” (Africa Christian Action film review).
Well, that’s to be expected when one makes a movie based on the life of a Charismatic “faith healer.” But let’s get real here. Angus Buchan prayed and a person (in this case a woman) was raised to life? Many, many Charismatic “faith healers” have made such astounding claims; but not one of them has ever been truly verified. Nor will it ever happen. The Lord Jesus Christ raised the dead when He ministered on earth, and He, through His servants, raised others to life in the apostolic age after He had ascended back to heaven; but after that? These miracles were among “the signs of an apostle” (see 2 Cor. 12:12; Heb. 2:3,4), and the apostolic ministry ceased in the first century AD. No one is an apostle today, it was a foundational ministry of the early Church, before the Scriptures were complete (Eph. 2:20). The gift of “working of miracles” (1 Cor. 12:10) was, like the gifts of tongues, prophecy, and miraculous healing, a temporary gift given to the apostles and a few others in the apostolic age; it is not given to anyone today. Anyone, today, who claims to have raised someone from the dead is either deliberately lying, or is utterly deceived. I am not saying that Angus was deliberately trying to deceive people by making this claim. Doubtless he really believes that a woman was raised to life through his prayer; but in this he is terribly deceived. It is easy to make the claim that someone has been raised to life; but what solid evidence is there? Was the woman truly verified as being dead? Were there competent witnesses who can attest to it? Not all who are struck by lightning die – but doubtless many would have felt like they were dead! From time to time, from all over the world, we hear accounts of people supposedly raised to life by some Pentecostal “healer” or other. But where is the proof? Must we just take their word for it? That is simply not good enough.
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