Elle Hardy - Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity Is Taking Over the World

BEYOND BELIEF

ELLE HARDY

Beyond Belief

How Pentecostal Christianity
Is Taking Over the World

HURST & COMPANY, LONDON

First published in the United Kingdom in 2021 by

C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.,

New Wing, Somerset House, Strand, London, WC2R 1LA

Elle Hardy, 2021

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United Kingdom

The right of Elle Hardy to be identified as the author of this publication is asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

A Cataloguing-in-Publication data record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 9781787385535

This book is printed using paper from registered sustainable and managed sources.

www.hurstpublishers.com

For Aden

CONTENTS

PART ONE
THE GOOD NEWS
THE UNSTOPPABLE RISE OF PENTECOSTALISM

PART TWO
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
THE BATTLE TO BUILD HEAVEN ON EARTH

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Firstly, this book wouldnt have been possible without the wonderful folks at Hurst. Michael Dwyer got the project from the beginning, and gave me support and freedom to do my thing. My sainted editor Lara Weisweiller-Wu put up with a lot, and put this all together. I am forever in her debt for her guidance, meticulous attention to detail, and gentle way of beating my words into coherence.

Nor could I have embarked on something so ambitious without the help of some brilliant academics, who were beyond generous with their time, wisdom and friendship. To Professors Andr Gagn, Sung-gun Kim, Solomon Kgatle, Ebenezer Obadare and David Smith, I cannot thank you enough. Credit for the good things in this book belongs to you.

While this list is almost certainly incomplete, I also must give thanks to the contributions and kindness of Jos Mazariegos, Grace Moon, Anne Nelson, Lvia Reis Santos, Gustavo Ribeiro, Ronda Snyder, Dr Jin-Heon Jung, Dr Steven Horne, Dr Michael Shively, and Professors Olufemi Vaughan, Richard Flory, Ryan Burge and Andrew Chesnut. Without their advice and assistance, many of these stories would not have come to light.

Writing is a solitary pursuit, and one I often struggle with. Four friends made it far less lonely, always available for bouncing ideas, advice, reading chapter drafts, and providing more emotional support than they bargained for. Thank you to my brothers David Patrikarakos, Joseph S. Furey, Adam Wesselinoff and Jason Wilson. Throughout it all, I missed the company of my late friend and mentor Mark Colvin.

In my travels around America, a few friends put me up along the way, and not for the first time. A huge thank you to Tim Vaught, William Bedwell, Doug Lapierre, Jim Eaton, and Antonia Eliason and Tom Morley for their exceptional company and far, far too much southern hospitality.

And of course, my people. I cant thank everyone dear to me, but must take time to acknowledge the twenty-two members of The Thread, the worlds premier group chat, who in spite of their best efforts keep me sane and make me smarter. Without Alice Knight, Jasmine McCarthy, Marika Clemow, Alexis Bergantz, Holly Yates and John Norris being their wonderful selves and supporting me from near and far, I never would have made it across the finish line.

Above all, this book is an ode to my family, for whom I am eternally grateful if not good at showing it: the extended Dignan clan, especially my late aunt Cec for showing me the worldly life, and Marie for her humour and being invested in everything I do. Nothing would be possible without the love and support of my sister Louise, who is with me daily; my dad Terry, for blessing me with his work ethic and timeless advice that people only want to know what happens next; and my mum Kate, who gifted me her endless curiosity and ear for a great expression.

Finally, this is all for Aden, who is everything.

PREFACE

The video of Tata Domingo Choc Chs execution had been sitting on my laptop for the best part of a year before I could bring myself to watch it.

Fortifying myself with a few beers, I sat in my hotel room in a small rural town in northern Guatemala, unable to put it off any longer. The next morning I would be meeting with witnesses to find out exactly what happened that dayand why.

My investigation into this murder was the culmination of several years spent researching the global Pentecostal Christian movement. In just over a century since its founding, Pentecostalism has grown from a spontaneous outpouring of faith at a small church in downtown Los Angeles to become possibly the fastest-growing religion on Earth.

Spreading the word across the globe, from its historic heartland in the United States to countries on every continentSouth Korea, the UK and Brazil, to name but a fewthe faith has collected some 600 million followers and counting.

Owing largely to birth rates, Islam and Hinduism are the great competitors in the global race for souls, but no single denomination is getting people in the tent quite like the Pentecostalsby some estimates, the movement is converting 35,000 new followers If demography is destiny, then this movement is the future of Christian belief.

A branch of evangelical Christianity, Pentecostalism is born-again plusafter accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour, believers need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, usually by speaking in tongues. Yet trying to capture the uniqueness of this religion is easier said than done: for starters, theres no Pentecostal Pope or Archbishop of Canterbury, and the movement contains churches by countless other names. Its also establishing itself as an official renewal movement within other denominations desperate to stem the tide, most notably Catholicism; at a local level, it is even influencing the style of worship among certain rival Jewish or Muslim communities.

Many Pentecostals dont refer to themselves as such. In Korea, theyre generally Presbyterians; in Brazil and Spanish-speaking Latin America, evanglicos, or members of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement. Nigerians tend to take the Pentecostal name, while believers in America and Australia will think of themselves as non-denominational and identify with whatever branding their specific megachurch goes by. Some Pentecostals simply call themselves Spirit-filled, and then theres the third wave of the Holy Spirit, or the New Apostolic Reformationterms used (or, as I have found, avoided) by particular groups today. Where possible, Ive tried to use local lingo in referencing different communities of believers, but for the most part I refer to the wider movement as Pentecostalism to avoid confusion.

While its ever more difficult to identify a Pentecostal church by what it might call itself, this is very much in keeping with a faith that has, from its first days, been distinguished by actions more than rigid doctrine. A movement that took its first steps in makeshift American camps, hawking visions of salvation to small crowds in poor rural areas, has transformed itself into a commercial and multimedia leviathan. Churches, some the size of airports, are still central to its mission; but these days, they offer record labels, speed dating events and addiction cures.

Holy Rollers, as theyve been pejoratively called, might be best known for the practice of speaking in tongues, but the movement has long specialised in addressing the specific needs of its followers in any given societywho, from the outset, have been the downtrodden and discriminated against. And this uplift is offered not as a reward in the afterlife, but as an instant improvement in the here and now. Whats more, Pentecostalism doesnt just mediate with God on its followers behalf; it empowers them to feel the blessings of the Spirit within themselves. This ability to bring down healing and prosperity, by yourself and for yourself, is no small thing in communities where governments dont seem able to provide adequate healthcare, job opportunities or living conditions.