An Unsolicited Response From Roy Deaver
In late 1995, I attended a debate that a brother in Christ had with a Pentecostal. John T. Lewis, a graduate of Brown Trail, was currently living in Lone Grove, Oklahoma, where the two-night debate was held. Jason Weatherly from Beebe, Arkansas argued that Holy Spirit baptism and miraculous gifts were still part of Christianity in the twentieth century, which Lewis denied. After attending this final evening of the discussion on December 8th, I wrote a brief summary of the event for the Spiritual Perspectives which was published on December 24, 1995. One report concerning the debate is given below:
Brother Lewis challenged Mr. Weatherly to end the debate as Paul had effectively done with Elymas (Bar-Jesus) by striking him blind (Acts 13:6-12). The Pentecostal's response was weak—he declined to do what Paul did on the grounds that he did not want Lewis to be blind; he wanted him to see. Does he not think Elymas' spiritual vision improved dramatically after Paul performed a miracle on him? Yes, he undoubtedly saw better in his blindness than he ever had with physical sight.
Along those lines, I made an observation of my own concerning what Weatherly had said:
In his closing remarks, Jason Weatherly thanked Harding College for giving him access to their library so that he could prepare for the debate. And he did display a knowledge about many of the doctrines we teach. But if he believes that the Holy Spirit works today as He did in the first century, why did he find it necessary to prepare for this debate? (bold added). The disciples were promised "a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist" (Luke 21:15). Those who hold his view of the Bible should not have to spend hours in diligent preparation; the Holy Spirit should provide wisdom.
Sometime during the next year (1996), I received an unexpected communication from Roy Deaver concerning this article. There were no personal comments—just three lines. He quoted the sentence that is bolded above and added one word—“Dynamite!” Underneath the typed portion of the note was a hand-signed, “Thanks,” followed by his written signature. What makes this interesting is that it was about this same time Roy’s son, Mac, began to develop the idea of “direct” wisdom from God. Of course, Mac would probably say that his dad changed his mind. One thing he cannot say is that Roy always held Mac’s current view—or that he did not fully disagree with that position in 1996.