Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity Is Taking Over the World

by Elle Hardy

A fascinating exposé of the global revolution you’ve never heard of: a deep-pocketed, tech-savvy Christian movement reshaping our societies from within.

How has a Christian movement, founded at the turn of the twentieth century by the son of freed slaves, become the fastest-growing religion on Earth? Pentecostalism has 600 million followers; by 2050, they’ll be one in ten people worldwide. This is the religion of the Holy Spirit, with believers directly experiencing God and His blessings: success for the mind, body, spirit and wallet.

Pentecostalism is a social movement. It serves impoverished people in Africa and Latin America, and inspires anti-establishment leaders from Trump to Bolsonaro. In Australia, Europe and Korea, it throws itself into culture wars and social media, offering meaning and community to the rootless and marginalised in a fragmenting world.

Reporting this revolution from twelve countries and six US states, Elle Hardy weaves a timeless tale of miracles, money and power, set in our volatile age of extremes. By turns troubling and entertaining, Beyond Belief exposes the Pentecostal agenda: not just saving souls, but transforming societies and controlling politics. These modern prophets, embedded in our institutions, have the cash and the influence to wage their holy war.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, Christianity, Christian, History, Cults, Reference

319 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2021

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wide ranging book about different aspects about Pentecostal Christianity worldwide from a journalist who has put in the time to investigate.
Plenty in here to raise concern where excess and even wrong has been done supposedly in the name of Christ.
As someone who was 'ordained' as a pentecostal pastor, I take very seriously the concerns raised(many of which were not new to me).
In no way do I want to downplay things which need calling out, including the horrid blending of some expressions of pentecostal /charismatic Christianity with more extreme right wing agendas. Yet I think the book could have been more balanced if it had acknowledged that there are Christians with a 'pentecostal flavour' who don't sign up to prosperity teaching, Christian Zionism, intolerance, prejudice or destruction of cultures to name but some of the issues raised in the book.

[James Harrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many Pentecostal Christians would dislike this analogy for obvious reasons, but their faith is the latest mutation of the movement that began in the first century AD in modern-day Palestine. It appears to be performing extremely well in the process of natural selection whereby a faith movement is pitted against other world religions and secular modern ideas in the contest for hearts and minds and souls. The statistics speak for themselves: by 2050, one in ten people are estimated to identify as Pentecostal Christians. Many of these will be located in the Global South such as Nigeria, Latin America, and the Philippines where the overwhelming majority of global population growth is occurring. Not to classify Pentecostal Christianity as an exclusively Third World Faith, in one of its primary exporter countries, South Korea, it is considered the religion of successful and ambitious young businesspeople. So what if this particular branch of Christianity does emerge by the process of natural selection to become the most subscribed-to faith on the planet? Bethel Church in Redding California (where, for the record, one in ten people already belong, providing an interesting forecast for a world in which a similar proportion of the population are Pentecostals) makes no secret: world domination. Elle Hardy’s work focuses not so much on the tenants of this growing faith movement but on the challenges and problems that are arising as a single branch of Christinity, for better or for worse, is taking over the world.

Pentecostal Christianity embodies many paradoxes and even contradictions. How can a faith so embedded in biblical traditionalism and even fundamentalism, appeal so greatly to young people in modern Western consumerist societies? Why do pastors who preach every other week from the gospel of Luke also own multiple private jets, proceeds from their flock’s tithes, and the controversial practice of ‘seeding’. And how can a faith that professes the love of one’s neighbour contribute so greatly to providing political cover for Israel to subjugate, humiliate, and colonise its neighbours? The appeal of Pentecostalism, however, appears to be boundless and infinitely accessible. Pastors in Nigeria and Brazil have embedded worship into the daily routines of commuters and the faithful in South Africa and the United States will spend their life savings on appointments with renowned spiritual healers instead of modern medicine. On the other hand, such rapid growth of any religion can bring problems with it. Consider Nigeria, a diverse collection of Christian and Muslim tribes with varying oil fortunes, collected into a single nation-state. High degrees of tension between its Muslim and Christian populations have been caused in part by the rapid growth of Pentecostalism. Pentecostal pastors often converts from Islam, equate Nigeria’s Muslim population as a whole, with Boko Haram, thoroughly reflecting a lack of understanding that descends into violence. American churches dubbing their missions in Nigeria and elsewhere ‘crusades’ is unlikely to help. Now think of the suppression of the rich cultures of Mayan Guatemalans and the Roma people of Europe associated with conversion, forced or not, to a Pentecostal interpretation of Christianity. In Guatemala, the Pentecostal-led Christian American-backed military regime carried out what is known as the Silent Holocaust of the native Mayan people during the long and bloody Guatemalan Civil War following the 1954 CIA coup in Guatemala. Even today, Guatemala’s growing Pentecostal population leaves many (often Catholic) Mayan Guatemalans feeling as if their (intensely spiritual) way of life is being destroyed. The nomadic lifestyle of the Romani people of Britain frequently adopt a settled lifestyle upon converting to Christianity, leaving behind the rich and unique customs of their ancestors. These are just some of the problems that Hardy draws the reader’s attention to, sex scandals, embezzlement and corruption charges, and power struggles within churches aside.

Hardy’s work within Pentecostal churches from South Korea to South Africa provides a fascinating perspective on one of the world’s fastest-growing religious movements. Directly criticising such a large faith from so many countries will inevitably mean that she will face opposition to her work. These critics would do well to remember that the job of a journalist is to connect readers to the reality, whether or not they may like that reality, and to expose wrongdoing, if necessary. Christianity is, at its core, a gospel: good news! It is vitally important that we should know if anything other than good is coming out of the churches that claim to teach Christianity so that they can be re-made into what they should be. That is part of the mission of Pentecostal churches: a revival like so many revivals before it. Hardy’s work in exposing the less well-known side of Pentecostal Christianity will go some way in helping the revival movement re-revive itself.

[Kelsey Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time following the outline and main points of this book. I was interested in the topic so I kept reading. There is so much detailed history and name dropping that I often got lost on the main points. It’s incredibly ambitious to not just choose one nation to focus on but it seemed its own expansiveness ruined the material for me. I couldn’t always see the connections to the history she was describing and the influence of pentecostalism.

I still enjoyed reading parts of it, especially her remarks regarding Hillsong and Bethel.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elle Hardy’s book Beyond Belief is an enterprising examination of Pentecostalism which enlightened me ‘big time’ about the movement which Hardy defines as, “A branch of evangelical Christianity…” Preface page xii

First and foremost, I came to know that although I previously thought of Pentecostalism as a modern day phenomenon, the movement has been gathering adherents since the eighteenth century and it is not going away any time soon. In fact,
“It’s predicted that, by 2050, one billion people – or one in ten of us – will be part of the movement. Preface page xi

To have that many devotees it follows that Pentecostalism will need to spread its wings to many different places in the world and this is precisely what is happening. From,
“… its historic heartland in the United States to countries on every continent- South Korea, the UK, and Brazil, to name a few – the faith has collected some 600 million followers and counting.” Preface page xi.

I also came to believe that even though Pentecostalism wants its followers to be filled with the ‘Holy Spirit’ and to act according to the teachings of Jesus, said leaders do not always fulfill this mandate. Leadership within the movement often uses its standing to advance its own ends; Hardy’s book tells many distressing and unwelcome stories about the power-seeking attitudes and actions of too many so called ‘men and women of God.'

If you are interested in the history of the world at large as well as the way Pentecostalism has influenced this history, Beyond Belief is well worth your consideration.

[Catherine Leung · Rating 5 out of 5]

thought provoking

Well researched and well written, Hardy’s work is hard to ignore. It might open your eyes and challenge your beliefs.

[Leo Elbourne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The quality of the writing is very good and it felt 'page-turning' for its entire course; Elle Hardy can certainly tell a story. The problem with the book is that this story is one in which Christianity is entirely evil and Pentecostalism is irredeemably problematic, with almost no caveats, shades of grey, or positive characteristics. Each chapter sets up a new sort of villain in the history of contemporary Christianity, and all too often there were Scooby Doo-like unveilings in which the mask of a modern-day monster is removed to reveal Pentecostalism causing havoc once again.

The unspoken subtext of the evil of Christianity drones on for 260 pages or so and at the best of times is quite dull, and at the worst of times sets up extremely questionable moral declarations. One early chapter implies that North Korean refugees might be better off never fleeing their oppressive dictatorship than being helped by a Pentecostal charity to get them out. The most venomous chapter of the book on sex-work is baffling in its portrayal of Pentecostals as the great oppressor of the poor men who simply want to pay their hard earned cash to visit a prostitute.

Part of the problem is that Hardy's understanding of what Pentecostalism is actually very unclear; a brief history of the movement and a few lines to outline vaguely some areas of Pentecostal theology are insufficient. The trouble with this is that almost all of the examples of Pentecostalisms problems come from outliers of the denomination with particularly rogue ideas who are subsequently painted as representatives of the entire denomination. This isn't universally true in the book, but I can't imagine any Pentecostal Christian would say this book is even close to a fair representation of what they believe, or indeed the Pentecostal teachers they do actually follow.

For clarity, I am not a Pentecostal, and many of the people/movements/theologies Hardy takes aim at I also think are deeply wretched (in fact, on some Prosperity Gospel preachers I thought she was too soft), but this is nonetheless a deeply misguided and confused book.

[David Rush · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Harvey Cox’s Fire From Heaven: The Rise Of Pentecostal Spirituality And The Reshaping Of Religion In The Twenty-first Century back in 2019, written in 2001. So I knew a little of the history of this movement

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

But boy the last 20 some years since it was written has brought some changes to that world. Of course much of the history is the same, but Pentecostalism has moved dramatically from a social structure system supporting some of the most oppressed, often with small churches as the edge of town, to being main stream and now boasting powerful megachurches all across the world.

From the beginning there was powerful message now it is not just a about saving souls and being filled with “the spirit”, now there is a spiritual war going on and charismatics mean to take over the world and control the levers of power.

Remember: evangelicalism as a whole is in decline, but Pentecostalism is on the up... Long a shelter for the marginalized and the dispossessed, in an age of gross inequality, Pentecostalism is becoming synonymous with an anti-liberal worldview. - Location: 3,771

She didn’t really fill in how the “prosperity gospel” fits in with Pentecostalism, but prosperity and wealth has found a happy partner with the charismatic movement. No longer “in the world but not of the world”, now they mean to take over the world in all aspects. Your spiritual life and consumerism blend seamlessly often with really great marketing and beautiful production values.

This, I came to discover, is a huge part of the appeal of the Pentecostal faith. A powerful and globally connected religious movement, its resurgence in the twenty-first century also represents a crisis of spirituality in today’s world—one founded on consumption and individualism that replicates the social and political chaos of our time. - Location: 519

So, what with the modern conservative movement’s attacks on any competent government project or social safety net, as more traditional politics fail it better it is for Pentecostals.

In his examination of global religious extremism, sociologist Mark Juergensmeyer argued that people are attracted to radical religious ideas when secular nationalism fails to deliver on its promises “of political freedom, economic prosperity, and social justice”—offering only moral corruption in return. - Location: 2,827

You may have noticed conservatives are threatening violence much more frequently and whether intentional or not, the “demonizing” of opposing political views is a logical development when you are in a “spiritual war”.

Just as prosperity gospel and miracle healing are most popular in places marked by an absence of social services, extrajudicial violence flourishes in unstable countries where the rule of law is absent or selectively enforced. Spiritual warfare is an alternative system of politics and justice, and one that’s mandated from above. - Location: 3,527

As I mentioned earlier, what makes today’s movement different from what I was vaguely aware of in my youth, Pentecostals are not primarily about saving souls, now they have a clear ideas about taking over the world to implement Christian Dominionism. This is the language of neo-Charismatic Pentecostalist, the New Apostolic Reformation, and the Seven Mountain’s Mandate. All these labels we should keep in mind as their forces work to take over governments.

Bethel, and by extension Redding, has its own way of transforming the world: a Christian ‘Dominionist��� project called the Seven Mountain Mandate. The premise of 7M, as it’s often called, is that the seven pillars of society have been taken over by demonic powers. -Location: 2,269

The Seven Mountain Mandate first came into being in 1974, what they called the “seven spheres” of influence—that is, education, religion, family, business, government, arts and entertainment, and media (the number seven also represents completeness in the Book of Revelation.)12 This idea then remained dormant for 25 years, until the late-century tide of globalised capitalism came to meet Pentecostalism. - Location: 2,320

Narrative-wise, my one complaint is sometimes she jumps cross the globe in the middle of a story. She will be talking about the Charismatic movements in Africa ( and the fascinating bleed of Pentecostalism into some Islamic groups) and then for a paragraph we are in Brazil, or South Korean. I get it may be she is making thematic connections but sometimes this continent jumping can be jarring. A small issues, but I noticed it.

Then some tidbits to remember

Neuroscience has found that the same reward-based neural systems associated with drug-taking are activated when individuals are “feeling the spirit”. - Location: 953

Historical movement like Higher Life movement and the Latter Rain movement—the ‘former rain’ being the Holy Spirit’s visitation of the disciples on Pentecost

For all their many flaws, they created a movement that perfectly weighted the spiritual with the practical. - Location: 450

Texas Republican... Barton promotes the idea that the Founding Fathers of the United States were all born-again Christians, meaning the constitution needs to be interpreted in a Christian Dominionist manner. In a 2011 radio interview, he explained that “Jesus said ‘you occupy ’til I come.’ We don’t care when he comes, that’s up to him. What we’re supposed to do is take the culture in the meantime, and you got to get involved in these seven areas.” David Barton blamed the attack on the Capitol on Antifa and Black Lives Matter activists in cahoots with the police, who were “actually opening doors, pulling down barricades and then letting people come in.” - Location: 2,528

[David Sarkies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rock & Roll Christianity
17 January 2023

Okay, let’s start with the criticism, not that I don’t have much to say about the brand of Christianity that she is talking about in the book, however I feel that there are a few things that she has got wrong. Okay, I’m a regular churchgoer who attends a contemporary Anglican service in Melbourne’s North. I like my church because I have finally found a community of Christians who don’t look down on me because I’m a Greens voter, or that I don’t believe in unrestricted capitalism. Sure, they are conservative, probably more because they believe that Jesus is fully God, and that he physically rose from the dead. However while they might have some unpopular views on abortion and same-sex attraction, they accept that it will happen. A lot of the members, like myself, believe that it is a woman’s right to choose (even though we might disagree with that choice), and what goes on in the bedroom is none of our business. Sadly, that isn’t the view of a lot of churches.

Now, my first criticism is that she seems to think that only Pentecostal churches hold these views when I can attest, from experience, that you will find the same opinions amongst the mainstream denominations such as the Baptists. Actually, you will find that the Baptists are incredibly conservative, deny science, and believe that Christians have the god given calling to take over the world – yet they are not Pentecostal. However, they definitely support the Pentecostals in their endeavours to shape the government. Oh, and they are also pretty big on the Health and Wealth gospel. I remember going to a baptist church and the pastor loved the idea that I was a lawyer in training because that meant that he could have influence over me.

The second issue I have is that not all pentecostal churches subscribe to what she is talking about. In fact, one of the Goodreads reviews is written by a Pentecostal Pastor who is concerned about the rise in extremism and disturbed about the fact that his church has been lumped in with the really bad ones. Not all Pentecostal Churches are Trump Thumping insurrectionists who believe that they are divinely ordained to overthrow a democratically elected government (ignoring the fact that Paul, and Jesus, clearly state that governments are appointed by God, but then again when has Biblical accuracy got in the way of a church seeking to overthrow a progressive government because abortion and homosexuality). Further, not all churches preach the prosperity doctrine, rather they just do church in a way that appeals to the younger generation.

Oh, and I should mention that the Bolivian ‘coup’ that she talks about wasn’t actually a coup. I researched it when I read how Eva Morales was ousted, and it turned out that he certainly wasn’t the innocent party (unlike Salvadore Allende), but rather he was attempting to overrule term limits. He ended up resigning and the reason the happy clapper became President is because she was next in line. The thing is that if you look at the make-up of the Bolivian Congress, it turns out that Morales’ party still holds a majority.

I would say that the rise of Pentecostalism is somewhat concerning, though being a Christian I do realise that God is in control, and he certainly doesn’t appreciate his name being dragged through the mud. Like, there are numerous mentions of church leaders getting busted and convicted of fraud and money laundering (surprise, surprise – actually, come to think of it, why am I not surprised to learn that a church is being used to launder money – yeah tithing is the ultimate slush fund), and of course, Hillsong is treated with an awful lot of suspicion from people outside of the pentecostal movement – probably because a roundly despised ex-Prime Minister who had a habit of secretly collecting ministries had a significant connection (and then after he lost returned to church to whinge over the fact that he was rejected by the people, only to quote Old Testament passages to claim that people rejected God, and not him, except for the fact that I’m pretty sure the voters of Australia rejected him – yeah, pissing off the entire population by responding to a woman’s rights protest by saying ‘yeah, at least we're not shooting you’ is going to go down like a lead balloon).

Come to think of it, I suspect these churches attract fraudsters and people seeking wealth because, well, a church is an awesome place to network. Then again, I suspect that my ideas aren’t going to go down all that well, such as getting funding to write a Dungeons and Dragons game that uses AI to develop adventures – yeah, they really don’t like Dungeons and Dragons. Well, I could always really freak them out by suggesting a Linkedin for prostitutes.

Which is a great segue into my final topic, and that is the idea of prostitution. Isn’t it funny that the United States is one of the most backward countries when it comes to Prostitution. Actually, it doesn’t actually surprise me considering that it is also one of the most conservative and religious countries as well, though I would have thought that some of the more progressive states would have made moves to legalise it. Yet all we have is Nevada, and the only brothels are in the desert.

However, it is really worrying how they go about combatting it. In fact, it seems like some really dodgy way of funnelling money to the church. So, they set up a fake website where women advertise their services, and they communicate with the ‘Johns’ and lure them to a motel room where the police are waiting, and where they then arrest them for soliciting a prostitute. The argument is that if they can destroy the demand then they can destroy the industry – as if that worked in the past (drugs). Also, they argue from the Swedish (and the French) model where it isn’t the women who are committing a crime, it is the men, and they argue that by going after the men then they can get the real sex offenders, and destroy their lives to a point where they have no choice but to seek sanctuary in a church. Oh, and prostitution is a gateway as well (heard that one before as well).

As it turns out this whole push is being made by the church (and some really sketchy ones as well). I actually watched one of the videos, and yeah, I accept that human trafficking is a real problem. Unlike drugs, humans are a constant money spinner (yet I don’t see them protesting people working in slave-like conditions in the service industry, or people using undocumented workers which, as one Christian told me, you need to do if you are to survive as a business). Sure, I agree that girls in Thailand and Cambodia are groomed to be sex workers, yet it was the end that made me sick. It made the assumption that all prostitutes in the Netherlands (and other parts of Europe) are being trafficked from Eastern Europe and are working against their will (they aren’t), and that all prostitutes in the US (and by extension Australia) are destroying their lives. Actually, the whole ‘I was a prostitute and then I found God and my life turned around’ all the while they are in tears, really puts me off.

Honestly, there is much, much more I can say about this book, and the fact that a lot of these pentecostal churches are full-on RWNJs who prey on the marginalised to line the pockets of a select few, and to seek to elect strong men (and also to go as far as raging real, bloody, and deadly wars against so-called ‘pagans’) opens itself to a lot more discussion about what they are doing, as well as criticising inaccuracies, and assumptions that she has made throughout the books (such as gypsies becoming sedentary due to becoming Christian as opposed to anti-Gypsy laws introduced by governments), but I’ve already written enough, so I’ll basically leave it at that.

[Douglas Cumming · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone whom Elle Hardy would describe as Pentecostal, I found her very readable and significant book both disturbing and encouraging.
Her whirlwind tour through Pentecostal history and geography is disturbing because it majors mostly on the excesses and aberrations of megachurches in this young and dynamic movement in Christianity. It makes for riveting reading but fails to point out that the vast majority of Pentecostal churches (which average congregations of around 50 max and have never heard of “the Seven Mountain Mandate”) are led by pastors who juggle full-time jobs, full-time families and full-time ministries. Not an easy task.
Nevertheless, this book is encouraging to anyone concerned with the future of the Christian message because, at a time when so many observers are predicting the end of Christianity, this new Pentecostal kid on the block shows that the Faith is adapting to the world as it is—something it has done throughout history. The movement still has a lot to learn and a long way to go, but its phenomenal growth gives real hope to my 2000-year-old Faith. I would have liked to have read some historical context and reactions from other, older, denominations, but perhaps that would have been too much to ask.
Pentecostal (and other Christian) leaders would do well to read this book and gain an outsider’s view of the wider picture in this world of theirs. I recommend it to pastors, preachers and people in the pews to read with humility and hope.

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Talk about fear mongering! This book had the potential to be a balanced view of the movement, both good and bad, but the emphasis on the extreme bad and political fear totally outweighed the incredible blessing these churches have brought to all corners of the world.
It’s depressing to see this “journalistic" author being so unfair.

[Dilara Ucar · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a pentecostal who has left religion I found this book extremely interesting. I think I saw a lot of this in action during Covid. Marrying pentecostalism and politics is something that terrifies me.

[Marin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is part short history charting the development of Pentecostalism, the fastest growing Christian denomination, and the biographies of its main historical leaders and part travelogue through the various and surprising aspects of Pentecostal churches spread across the globe today.

The author is largely objective except for moments when she strides into politics, defining westerners and republicans as “bad”, and indigenous people and democrats as “good” based on her political views which sometimes overpower historical facts.

Because I know very little about religious doctrines and nothing about Pentecostalism, I found it difficult to keep up with its doctrinal intricacies but the narrative was flowing, the story surprised me at almost every page and I found it informative, well researched, and ultimately rewarding.

A branch of Evangelical Christianity best known for its congregations speaking in tongues with the aim of “being filled with the Holy Spirit”, as described in Acts 2:2–4 and 1 Corinthians 14:2, Pentecostalism doesn’t just mediate with God on its followers’ behalf; it empowers them to feel the blessings of the Spirit within themselves.

Pentecostal believers feel God doesn’t simply speak to them, but through them, and the uplift offered isn’t only a promised reward in the afterlife, but comes as an instant improvement in the here and now.

The lack of a central authority or overarching structure, often makes the individual church leader a figure of unrivaled importance. These individuals practice ‘power evangelism’, performing miracles and providing signs and gifts while they preach. The most successful charismatic preachers run megachurches - they’re not really pastors but executives who oversee a morally charged business operation. Collection plates and tithes once accounted for most of a church’s income, but these corporate churches can bring in up to 80% of their revenue through music and other merchandise sales.

Today, Pentecostalism is much more than a religion, it is a social, political, and cultural force, and worryingly, some Pentecostal religious entrepreneurs have become political entrepreneurs.

While the Pentecost is the main inspiration, the movement is fixated on the final book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelation. This vision evolved to a view of the “End of Times” which says that Satan won’t take over - because the time of tribulation has already been and gone - and we are now living in the days of God’s advancing Kingdom. True Christians will not secretly be raptured from the earth whilst everything falls apart, “but will remain here to transform and rule over it”, in a “preparatory dominion” laying the ground for the Second Coming of Christ.
This fixation on an active preparation for the End of Days is arguably another worrying aspect of this very active movement.

The book deals with many facets and directions this movement branched into, including the baffling directions it evolved into in Korea, South Africa, and Brazil. There are so many aspects I could comment on and go into but if I did so, I feel I could continue until the “end of days”.

I will finish with a notion central to the Pentecostal faith that is making Pentecostal leaders filthy rich - the prosperity theology - the idea is that God rewards you for giving money to your church and the miracles that come with it—success in matters of the mind, body, spirit, and wallet.
Luther based his success on criticising the selling of papal indulgences. Nowadays, a Christian movement gets amazingly successful in charging its followers.
But for believers, the devil isn’t in the detail. Faith is something that makes them feel good, and Pentecostals offer a straightforward narrative that many can plug their ambitions into.
The Pentecostal idea of faith as a transaction and the promise of a victorious life—both here, now, and ever after - cannot be but a great attraction

[Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few years ago, an Assemblies of God Pentecostal church opened in my rural hometown of 1,300 people. Unlike the Catholic, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches in town, this church did not open a physical location. Rather, they held services in the public high school cafeteria for a couple years, then moved into the gymnasium once the congregation became larger. Pentecostalism wasn't new to rural Minnesota, but it was new to my hometown, and people seemed to be showing up in larger numbers, being baptized in the swimming pool and then local lake. Members of the church began taking up positions of local leadership. Watching from the outside, I couldn't help but wonder what was attracting people to this church.

I wanted to read Beyond Belief so I could better understand the allure of Pentecostalism in my hometown. In her book, Hardy touches briefly on the early history of Pentecostalism, then launches into how Pentecostalism is growing and influencing the modern world. In the ten chapters following her historical introduction, she explains contemporary Pentecostalism through: Hillsong in Australia, North Korean defectors, poverty in Brazil, scandals in South Africa, faith healing in Mozambique, the UK's Roma community, the 7 Mountain Mandate, increasing religious tension in Nigeria, prostitution in Texas, the genocide and destruction of Mayan culture in Guatemala, and Pentecostal support of far-right political movements.

Through this book, I understand a bit more how and why Pentecostalism appeals to so many people in my hometown, and the effects it is having on that small society as well as the entire world.

"Taken together, the chapters of this book reveal a personalised faith that accommodates something far more mystical and individual; a worldview that appeals to ‘spiritual, not religious’ self-help types, yet remains distinctly political; a religious practice that fits into modern lifestyles, indulging in feel-good concerts and social media's dopamine surges, but also speaks to the outlook of extreme right-wing nativists and Christian fundamentalists who just want to go back—to an imagined past that was pure."

[Laura Ann Tull · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to understand how Trump came to power & why people in other countries liked him and even how Israel plays into this insanity read this book. It reads like the diary of a sociologist theologian historian journalist trying to understand and explain a global cultural religious movement. It is surprising how the author tries to find the positive & humanity in the people in this movement. But she isn't blinded by the dangers the pentecostal movement entails. It isn't written with hate. But true concern and a touch of hope. As if the author started this trying to find the good but instead uncovered more than she bargained for. I'd recommend this to any politician out there that wants to understand how religion is poisoning democracy and why Israel and Jews should be kind of terrified they are playing along. It explains growing religious tension & violence and how Pentacostal Christianity is a dangerous movement that is causing violence globally. We shouldn't be taking this lightly. It is as if Puritans and inquisitionists have been resurrected. I'm a person who loves literature & fantasy. this is about real people being deluded into beliefs that are causing harm. It's one thing to love magic and story it's another to believe people deserve to die because they are infested with demons. Beliefs that are really lies meant to build businesses are dangerous. Megachurches should not be taken lightly.

[Nathan Price · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting issues raised. Certainly thought-provoking. Quite scattered in its attention though.

The focus skips around between countries and big issues. The author will start digging deep on a particular topic but then the chapter will end and the topic will be dropped never to be picked up again. Lots of time is devoted to sordid and flashy drama and much less to substantive analysis. Usually issues are presented from a single perspective without much exploration of other analyses, neither affirmative nor critical.

The author can be sloppy with her analysis, generously sourcing and examining certain factual claims but then giving minimal argument or sourcing for other big claims. There's also a lack of distinction between different branches of Christianity, e.g. equivocation of Evangelicals and Pentecostals which may be true in some countries but fails to capture the dynamics of the Western Christian world.

The choice of topics is pretty arbitrary and it never feels like the book threads a coherent, overarching argument together. I get the feeling that this started as a series of journalistic articles which eventually got bundled as a book. Probably would have worked better as a loose collection of essays--more enjoyable thought of that way.

[Ross Blocher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity Is Taking Over the World is a fascinating and frightening look at the world-wide expansion of a particular, radicalized branch of Evangelical Christianity: Pentecostalism. Its growth can be hard to track, as many churches that fall within the Pentecostal tradition (with its focus on political action and social upheaval) eschew labels, so you often don't know what's going on from outside the fold of benignly named churches like "Bethel" or "Hillsong" or "Yoido Full Gospel". And yet, they're growing despite a worldwide downward trend for religion as a whole. Pentecostal preaching focuses intently on the supernatural, so you'll encounter a wide range of faith healing, demon exorcising, tongues-speaking, grave soaking (!), and other phenomena that rely upon a steady supply of under-educated and often under-served masses. Elle Hardy has engaged in worldwide journalism, during the height of the COVID pandemic no less, interacting with some of these key growth "markets" in Guatemala, South Korea, Brazil, South Africa, the UK (with an unexpected story about the rise of the "Light and Life Gypsy Church"), Nigeria, and of course, in the home of Pentecostalism: the US. In each location, Hardy talks with church leaders, explores the local history and sociopolitical backdrop, and explains the trends of "signs and wonders" that appeal to a particular population. This is an important warning, and I wish it were getting more attention. Thankfully, my wife found this book and shared it with me, and in turn with our book club group. Would love to see an audio version made available.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains vast amounts of research, and accounts gathered from across the world about how Pentecostalism is rapidly gaining influence and the ways in which it is a very real danger.
It would have benefited from a stronger line of explanation and argument. The reader is plunged from one country to the next without a clear progression.
Nevertheless, there’s a clear sense of existential threat from a rapidly-growing movement that thinks its members should dominate all aspects of society, that being rich is good, and that we are in the End of Days phase before the Last Judgement, implying that we need not care about nuclear war or environmental catastrophe because it’s soon going to be irrelevant.
A recurring theme is that when governments fail to function properly, religious organisations have an opportunity to fill the void- and to drive society in extreme directions.

[Rob Sedgwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book fairly disappointing. The opening chapter explains a bit about the history of Pentecostal Christianity - fair enough. The author then goes on a series of trips and meets people from around the world involved in Pentecostal Christianity - again, fair enough. The problem (and maybe it's just me) is that the narrative is forever bogged down in the detail of each chapter and it rarely takes a step back to explain the bigger picture and what it all means. Only in the closing pages was some sort of attempt made to give a bit of perspective. I felt I could have missed out on much of what I read and I doubt much of it will stick in my mind, which is a shame as there was a lot of original material in the book.

[Mike Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book after seeing the recent TV series about Hillsong and then reading David Hardaker's excellent book on the rise and fall of Hillsong. I must admit, I was hoping for much more. I did not find the style of writing easy to read in large chunks and had to have a break between chapters. I also chatted about the material with several good friends active in Pentecostal churches and have the clear opinion that Elle Hardy has based some of her book on wildly colourful exceptions more than the everyday rule. In saying that, this book is filled with many engaging stories. I also love that Elle Hardy's descriptions of her personal experiences with some of the hard-to-believe characters she encountered across the globe are sublimely honest, thought-provoking and insightful.

[Logan Streondj · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful insightful and in depth look at pentecostalism from it's early beginnings, through it's many iterations, to the present and their beliefs regarding the future.
Really amazing and also a cautionary tale of how things like "spiritual warfare" can lead to mass genocide and hundreds of thousands dead. Pentecostalism has taken over governments and countries and forced out other religions and even ways of practicing in other denominations.
As with all things, there is good and bad, lessons to learn, and things to avoid.
Jesus did not say hate and be curse your enemies, he said forgive, love and bless them.

[Ben Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable but meandering.

Felt somewhat sensationalist. But the snapshots of Pentecostalism in Korea, Nigeria and the US were particularly fascinating.

It is also somewhat shocking how little known the roots of Pentecostalism are; given that the three original founders of the movement were invariably involved in racist acts, affairs and murders by way of extreme exorcisms.

[Jendi · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a work of journalism, this survey of global Pentecostal movements in their political context is thorough and informative. However, I would have liked deeper theological analysis of the paradox of charismatic Christianity: why does a grassroots faith of the dispossessed end up overwhelmingly allying itself with patriarchy, capitalism, and fascism?

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything you ever wanted to know about Pentecostal Christianity and more. A detailed study of the history of the Pentecostal movement and its growth by an author who has done an awful lot of research. The author doesn't appear to have any obvious biases. The book seems to be an honest appraisal of the movement which details strengths and weaknesses.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well researched and fascinating expose’ of what is happening in the weird world of religion. When ever something BIG happens in the world, I will look beyond the mainstream news hype and dive into the religious persuasion of the leaders. If this book is true, and I am convinced by the in depth research… our world is about to taken over by gods soldiers. And it’s not a good thing.

[Peter Hawkeye · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read.

[Brenda Rosser]

fascinating and terrifying. And overdue back at the library

[Lola De los dolores · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and terrifying.

[Kindredcrafters · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book.

[Tauni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an important, well-researched book. Bring your highlighter. Hardy has stuffed this book with facts you’ll want to reference and remember.

[Lexi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. it was good but missing something, though i couldn’t pinpoint what. full of interesting stories though. also terrifying.