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Protestant
Christian Holiness movements
The Reformation emphasis on
salvation by grace through
faith.
Puritanismemphasis on adherence to
biblical scripture and the right to dissent from the established
religious
institution.
Pietismemphasis on the
spiritual
life of the
individual, coupled with a
responsibility to live an upright life.
Quietism [Religious Society of
Friends (Quakers)]emphasis on the
individual's ability to
experience
God and
understand
God's will for
oneself.
Methodismemphasis on adherence to biblical scripture through
a methodical approach to
understanding
scripture, Puritanism coupled with Pietism. Methodists
believe in
salvation through
faith and grace by the constant
sustained action of the Holy
Spirit upon the believer's
soul and practice
rebirth through baptism in the
Holy Spirit (now "born again").
The First Great Awakening (America)George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, and
others, emphasized the initial conversion (rebirth)
experience.
The Second Great Awakening Charles
Finney, Lyman Beecher, Francis Asbury, and others, emphasized the need for
personal conversion (rebirth)
characterized by the rise of neoevangelistic
revival
meetings.
From the Reformation came the birth of
Protestantism In Protestantism there has been an
evolution and a mixing of
Protestant theological belief systems that
has resulted in a continually changing and splintering
Christian theology.
Calvinism is a
theological belief system and an approach
to living that emphasizes
God's rule over all
things.
Named after John Calvin, this variety of Protestant Christianity
is sometimes called the Reformed tradition, the Reformed
faith, or Reformed
theology. Calvinists
believe as a consequence of the
fall of man, every person born
into reality is enslaved to
the flesh. Calvinists
believe
individuals are not by
nature inclined to
love
God with their whole
heart and
mind but rather are generally
inclined to reject the God's ethics
to serve their own interests
over those of their neighbors.
Calvinists believe attainment of
heaven is not based on
virtue, merit or
faith but is unconditionally
grounded in God's
mercy expressed as absolution of an
individual's
original sin. The
saving grace of God
is effectually applied to those whom God has determined to
save by overcoming their resistance
to God's word and
thus bringing them to a saving
faith in Jesus. Any
individual who has once
been truly saved must necessarily
persevere and cannot
later be condemned.
Calvinist
thought reached its zenith of its
influence in the Anglican Church during the reign of Edward VI in 1552 with the
Forty-Two Articles of Religion found in the Book of Common Prayer. Anglicans
understand the Old and New Testaments as 'containing all things necessary for
salvation' and as being the rule
and ultimate standard of faith.
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion were established in 1563, and are the
historic defining statements
of Anglican doctrine in relation to
the controversies of the English Reformation; especially in the
relation of Calvinist doctrine and
Roman Catholic practices to the nascent
Anglican doctrine of the evolving English Church.
Adherence to the Thirty-Nine Articles was made a legal requirement by the
English Parliament in 1571.
Anglicanism commonly refers to the
beliefs and practices of the Anglican
Communion, the churches that are in full communion with the See of Canterbury
the Mother Church of England. Anglicanism, in its structures,
theology and forms of worship, is
understood as a distinct Christian tradition
representing a middle ground between Roman Catholicism and
Protestantism.
From Calvinism sprang Arminianism.
Arminianism is
a school of soteriological thought in
Protestant Christian
theology founded by the Dutch
theologian Jacobus Arminius. Its acceptance
stretches through much of mainstream Protestantism. Arminianists
believe that
individuals are
naturally unable to make any
effort towards salvation,
salvation is possible by grace
alone, works of human effort
cannot cause or contribute to salvation,
God's elects (choses those to be
saved) which is conditional upon faith in
Jesus, Jesus'
atonement was for all people, God
allows his grace to be resisted by those unwilling to
believe,
salvation can be lost as continued
salvation is conditional upon
continued faith in
Jesus, the personification of
God.
At Derby in 1650
George Fox was imprisoned for
blasphemy which began the
Quietism revival.A judge
mocked George Fox's exhortation to
"tremble at the word of
the Lord", calling George Fox
and his followers "Quakers" - now the common name of the Society of Friends.
Another imprisonment came
in 1653 in Carlisle; it was even proposed to
put him to death, but
Parliament requested his release rather than have "a young man… die for
religion".
George Fox suffered harsh treatment
in prison following his refusal
to fight against the return of the
monarchy (or indeed to take up arms for any reason).
In
1653 George Fox was
arrested and taken to London for
a meeting with the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. After affirming that he had
no intention of taking up arms,
George Fox was able to speak with
Oliver Cromwell for some time about the differences between Friends and members
of the traditional Christian denominations, and
advised him to listen to
God's voice and
obey it. George Fox records that
on leaving, Oliver Cromwell "with tears in his eyes said, 'Come again to my
house; for if thou and I were but an hour of a day together, we should be
nearer one to the other' - later recalled as an example of "speaking truth to
power".
Further imprisonments came at London in
1654, Launceston in 1656, Lancaster in 1660 and 1663, Scarborough in 1666, and
Worcester in 1674.
Often, George Fox was
arrested on no charge other than
generally causing a "disturbance", other times he and the other Friends were
also accused of more specific offenses.
Quakers fell foul of
laws forbidding unauthorized worship.
While in prison,
George Fox continued writing and
preaching.
George Fox felt
that a benefit of being imprisoned was that it brought him
into contact with people who needed his help — the jailers as well as his
fellow prisoners.
George Fox also sought to set an
example by his actions there, turning the other cheek when being beaten and
refusing to let his
captors make him feel dejected.
By "speaking truth to power" - simple
ideas related with plain speech -
George Fox pursued the
social goals of eradicating
war, social injustice and
oppression. George Fox often emphasised the
Quaker rejection of baptism by water;
this was a useful way of highlighting how the focus of Friends on inward
transformation differed from what he saw as the
superstition of outward
ritual.
{Christian baptism is based on the mikvah or mikveh - the
ritual of full immersion in water.
The word "mikvah" literally means a
"collection" - generally, a collection of water.
Talmudic law specifies
that full immersion in water is required to regain ritual purity after ritually
impure incidents have occurred. Most forms of impurity can be nullified through
immersion in any natural collection of water. Some, such as a Zav, however
require "living water," such as springs or groundwater wells. Living water has
the further advantage of being able to purify even while flowing as opposed to
rainwater which must be stationary in order to purify.
The mikvah is
designed to simplify this requirement, by providing a bathing facility that
remains in ritual contact with a natural source of water. Its main uses
nowadays are: by Jewish women to achieve ritual purity after menstruation or
childbirth; by Jewish men to achieve ritual purity; as part of a traditional
procedure for conversion to Judaism; for utensils used for food.}
"Let no man speak in an unknown tongue.
Let no one be
put to death for chattel,
for money or any outward
thing.
Let all these things be taken away, he that will not speak a few
words to his neighbor without
money,
freely without end, or
reward, or bribery, and so bring it
to a free
Nation, and so a
free people by the
Power of God.
Let no one that is high, proud,
or lofty, envious or scornful bear
Office, for he will turn the sword
backward and do Satan's work,
which is to bring the world into a
wilderness. For they that are hasty, proud in a
mad blind zeal
will turn the sword against the just.
Let no law be, but that man may
ask a question. If it be a free
Nation, let it be
free.
Let none be persecuted
and imprisonment as vagabonds who
are moved by God to speak abroad
God's Word freely
and faithfully. Let none lie long in prison, for that is the way to spoil
people, and to make more thieves, for there they learn wickedness together.
Let all this money, and stipends, and tithes, and
hour-glasses for preaching by the hour be taken away from men, who make a trade
of the Scripture.
Let all that worship
God, worship
God in
selflessness not in
selfishness.
Let all
the Burying the dead for money,
and Marrying for money, and
Christening for money, and
Churching of women for money, let
all these things be swept away, and let the
Nation be a
free
Nation.
Let no man bear the
sword that does
violence to any man, or accuse any man
falsely.
Let no Judge, nor Justice,
nor Sheriff that is ambitious,
highminded, bear
rule, or bear any Government, for
such do not stand in awe of God
which is the beginning of the
wisdom with which they should
order the Creation to the Glory
of God the
Creator. They are out of the meek state
and humility, and doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly before
God, and they are an ill favor in
the nostrils of
God, and to all sober, tender people
and sincere.
Let all these things for
money,
preaching for money, and singing for
money be laid aside.
Let
not preaching be a trade, nor the
Word of God
made merchandise of, and let not the
Law be sold nor bought.
Let not them handle the Law that will not do
justice without
money; for those will not do
justice, but will favor the
rich for a fee, a
gift or
reward, which eates up the poor, and
they will hold people in long suites, by which the cause of the just
suffers and is often overthrown." -
George Fox
In 1738
John Wesley, an Anglican minister and
Christian theologian, begin preaching the precepts of
Methodism which lead to the Methodist revival. The evangelistic
teaching of John Wesley incorporated
and melded Arminianist doctrine, Calvinist doctrine and Anglican doctrine as
represented in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion for use by
American Methodists in the 18th
century. John Wesley's father was of
the Arminian school. While in college John
Wesley expressed strong disagreement with the doctrines of election and
reprobation believing and later
teaching that individual
efforts towards holiness of heart
and life could bring a truly holy and
loving Christian to
salvation.
John Wesley intensely studied the Church
Fathers and Eastern Orthodox Church. John
Wesley attended Moravian meetings, heard a sermon of Dr. John Heylyn and
seriously studied Christian
religious sects.
John Wesley attacked predestination as
blasphemous and
believed fervently that every doctrine
must be able to be defended rationally.
John Wesley
believed
faith and
reason were synonymous.
Jon
Wesley defined the witness of the
Spirit of God as:
"an inward impression on the soul,
whereby the Spirit of
God directly testifies to an
individual's
spirit that they are indeed
children of
God."
John Wesley
believed a person must ultimately
believe
God's word for
himself or herself - intercession
was ineffective as redemption
occurs only in a contrite heart.
John Wesley's strength as a
theologian lay in his ability to combine
seemingly opposing theologian stances
backed up by a reasonable
interpretation
of scripture.
John Wesley's
greatest theologian achievement was his
promotion of what he termed "Christian
perfection," or holiness of
heart and
life.
John Wesley's evangelical
theology, especially his understanding of
Christian perfection, was firmly grounded in his
sacramental theology.
John Wesley insisted that in this
life, the Christian could come to a state where the
love of God, or
perfect
love, reigned supreme in one's
heart. To be made
perfect in love
meant that a Christian could live with a
primary guiding regard for others and their welfare.
John Wesley took as the basis for this
Jesus' quote that the second great command is
"to love your neighbor
as you love yourself."
John
Wesley traveled on horse back spreading his evangelic message while
contending that the very purpose of the Methodist movement was to "spread
scriptural holiness".
John
Wesley's ministry created 135,000
church members, and 541 itinerant preachers under the name "Methodist."
Methodists, under John Wesley's
direction, became leaders in many social
justice issues of the day including
prison reform and abolitionism
movements.
Like Jesus
John Wesley died poor.
Pentecostal denominations are
descended from Methodism and the Methodist Holiness Movement.
Pentecostal soteriology is generally
Arminian rather than Calvinist.
Charles Fox Parham
obtained a minister's license from the Southwest Kansas
Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal Church.
Charles Fox
Parham's adoption of Wesleyan "holiness" theology with its crisis
experience of sanctification
branded him as a troublemaker
and he surrendered his minister's license. Holiness preachers declared that
following conversion, believers should
seek for a "second blessing" to purge the
desires of the flesh from their
hearts.
In 1901 27-year-old Charles Fox Parham founded Bethel
Bible School in Topeka, Kansas. Forty
students gathered to pray for the promised "Latter Rain" outpouring of the
Holy Spirit (Joel 2:23,28,29)
hoping to acquire the same supernatural spiritual power that
marked the expansion of the Early Church.
In an intense atmosphere of expectancy Agnes N. Ozman became the first
to "speak in tongues."
Charles Fox Parham received the
capability of speaking in "German" and
"Swedish", Agnes N. Ozman in "Chinese," and others in a variety of "foreign
languages" including "Japanese", "Hungarian", "Syrian", "Hindi" and
"Spanish"(As there was no one in Topeka, Kansas who spoke any of these
languages and as none of these "speakers
of tongues" actual did any foreign missonary work it is unlikely that any
of these spoken tongues were actual
coherent foreign language
verbalizations.)
Charles Fox
Parham noted that "cloven tongues of
fire" appeared over the heads of speakers of tongues. (A
cloven tongue of fire appeared over
William Marrion Branham's head in a
famous photograph.)
Charles Fox
Parham believed that being given
the spritual gift of "speaking in tongues" meant that an
individuals was given
power by the
Holy Spirit to speak and
understand a foreign language to facilitate foreign missonary work.
The Lesser Key of Solomon suggests
Charles Fox Parham channeleth
Ronove a marquiz & a great earl spirit
who teacheth ye art of
rhetoric very well, and giveth good servants knowledge of tongues.
Exorcists wear
this symbol on their panties to
control
Ronove
Charles Fox Parham is considered by many
to be the "founder of modern Pentecostalism." It is clear from
history that both the Azusa Street
revival and the
Pentecostal
revival that spread from Zion City
(now called Zion), Illinois, grew from Charles Fox Parham's
Latter Rain
dogma.
Charles Fox Parham moved to Houston,
Texas, where in spite of segregation, William Seymore, a one-eyed
African-American preacher was taught Latter Rain
dogma. (Apparently without the "serpent seed"
dogma.)
William
Seymore went to Los Angeles, where his speaking helped spark the
fires of the Azusa Street
revival.
YouTube: Azusa Street Revival
Most
Pentecostal denominations can trace
their roots to the Azusa Street revival or were strongly influenced by
it.
Charles Fox Parham after observing the
"supernatural manifestations"
of the Azusa Street revival stood up
and declared: "The Lord is sick at
His stomach!"
In 1907-1910 David Wesley Myland also taught the rudimentary
dogma of the "Latter Rain."
The
idea of a
Latter Rain was present from the
earliest days of Pentecostalism.
Many believed that the return of
speaking in tongues and the baptism of
the Holy Spirit marked the
Latter Rain, near the
End Times. The
outpouring of the Holy Spirit on
Pentecost had been the "Former
Rain" that established Christ's Church, but the current "movement" of the
Holy Spirit was the
Latter Rain that would bring the
Christ's work to completion, and culminate in the Second Coming of Jesus
Christ.
In the mid-1940's, the enthusiasm and
fire of the
Pentecostal
revival that started at Azusa Street
was waning, and adherents were
looking for another movement of the
Spirit - seeking signs and
wonders.
Around 1947
William Marrion Branham, Percy Hunt
and George Hawtin begin to codify Latter Rain
mythology as the "New Order of the
Latter Rain."
William Marrion Branham's
mythology formed the basis for the "New
Order" of the Latter Rain
dogma.
William Marrion Branham was seen as the
"prophet" (Elijah) of the movement.
Latter Rain
dogma caused division in traditional
Pentecostal churches.
Latter Rain
dogma led to the
condemnation of the "The New Order of
the Latter Rain" by the
Assemblies of God in their general council in 1949. Many
Latter Rain acolytes resigned or
were excommunicated for their involvement and formed independent
Latter Rain
fellowships. Most of these
fellowships were small. Their
evolving
dogma became increasingly heretical and, many
degenerated into clearly definable cults - Church of the Living Word, The Body,
House of Prayer, etcetera .
Some of those who kept the
Latter Rain
dogma alive from that time and are a big
influence in the new Latter Rain
Third Wave are Bill Hamon,
Paul Cain, the
Kansas City "prophets",
Vineyard and
Harvest.
Latter Rain
dogma includes a denial of
the rapture for
Christians; the placing of
experience over exposition; baptism
of the Holy Spirit and the
gifts of the
Holy Spirit can be imparted
through the "laying on of hands"; that
Christ's Church is built upon the foundation the
five-fold ministry of
present-day apostles and
prophets; the
dominion mandate - the
Latter Rain movement must
overcome all resistance and destroy all
evil which now prevents the return of
Jesus; when all
enemies are finally dealt with
Jesus will be released from
heaven to return to
Earth, at which time
Latter Rain acolytes will
present the Earth to
Jesus as Jesus'
footstool.
"After being ordained into full-time ministry by a
RHEMA graduate and acknowledged
prophet I started a small
ministry called "Latter Rain
Ministries." I had several cassettes and booklets by
William Marrion Branham and prayed I
too could have such a supernatural ministry. I,
like many others, believed that the
Lord had restored the office of
the apostle and
prophet. Many
prophetic
words were spoken over my wife
and I regarding the move of God and the
end time glory which was
about to be manifested and our role
in this coming move. Now I know that
I, and all my friends in ministry, were Montanists to the core, (although
probably none of us knew it at the
time). It was only recently (within the last two to three years) that the
Lord has opened my wife and my
eyes to the
Truth of
His Word, which has been
subsequently revealing the darkness of what we once gladly walked in. I
know from personal
experience the great attraction
Latter Rain holds for people.
Adherents want to be on the cutting
edge of spiritual advancement.
Adherents want to see
God's power
manifested, the
sick healed,
feel
His presence, etcetera. The
problem is almost all of what transpires in neo-Montanist congregations is
subjective experience devoid of any
solid Biblical foundation. The
Bible ends up being used to prove the
experience, it matters not where
the texts are drawn from, and context is immaterial." - Rev. Robert S. Liichow
Latter Rain
dogma condemned by Assemblies of God included;
overemphasis relative to imparting, identifying, bestowing, or confirming of
gifts by the "laying on of hands" and
prophecy;
erroneous teaching that the
true church is built on the
foundation of present-day apostles and
prophets; the suggestion that an
intercessor could hear
confession and absolve sin; extreme and unscriptural practice of imparting
or imposing control over
individuals by the
gifts of utterance.
During the early years, some of the most ardent critics of
the Latter Rain and
Latter Rain's
Manifest Sons
mythology came from within
Pentecostalism, particularly the
Assemblies of God. Leaders of the Assemblies of God were concerned that it
glorified men among other things and pointed to the "ye are gods" dogma as evidence of severe
theological error.
Much of
Latter Rain
dogma, such as the
five-fold ministry and
the "laying on of hands", has been
transposed into modern Pentecostalism effecting the
Charismatic and
Pentecostal movements at large.
"The flamboyant claims of the
Charismatic are beyond
tolerance and have succeeded in
leading Christians to seek the ‘gifts' rather than the ‘Giver' and has already done untold harm
to the people of God." -
InPlainsite.org
The
Latter Rain movement, along with
elements of the
Healing
revival slowly dissolved into parts
of the larger Charismatic
movement. Dancing, lifting of hands and
spontaneous praise are marks of the Charismatic movement. Some parts
of the Charismatic movement
have a blend of influences that may include both the
Latter Rain, the
Healing
revival and the
Jesus movement,
elements distinctive from
traditional
Pentecostal
theology.
The Healing
revival of the early day
Kansas City "prophets" occured
between 1947 and 1957 with Oral
Roberts, Jack Coe, William Marrion
Branham and Paul Cain. Chuck Smith,
founder of Calvary Chapel, served as Paul
Cain's Healing
revival campaign manager at one
time.
"In Latter Rain
circles truth is changing and
evolving. Scriptures do not have one
meaning, the meaning evolves as does
the fellowship. What Latter Rain
people look for in the Bible is the
"present day truth" which is arrived at
by the Holy Spirit as revealed
through a current crop of apostles and
prophets. In 1990 a shift occurred
and the Apostolic movement began
to be birthed. My wife and I have met no less than six
apostles - most of whom used to
be pastors, then prophets, and now
apostles. Over the last fifteen
years we have spiritually surfed
various moves of the Holy Spirit
and they all can be reduced to being nothing more than
Latter Rain acolytes, only the
error has progressed even more radically
since 1947." - Rev. Robert S. Liichow
Two of the most prominent
proponents of the dogma of
Latter Rain are
Paul Cain and
C. Peter Wagner.
"...raising
up a new standard, a new banner, if you will, that's going to radically change
the expression, the understanding of Christianity in our generation... has invited us
to have a role in establishing a new order of Christianity... is offering to this generation
something He has never offered to any other generation...beware lest old order
brethren rob you and steal this hope from you." -
Paul Cain
C. Peter Wagner,
co-founder of the World Prayer Center, a non-profit
corporation, and chancellor of
the Wagner Institute, a non-profit
corporation, in Colorado
Springs, is touted as a leading authority in the fields of
church growth and
spiritual warfare.
Morphed and
evolved
Latter Rain
mythologies now include: Kingdom Now/Dominion mythology,
Progressive Revelation, Revival/Harvest, Joel's Army, Replacement
mythology, Post-Millennial
Eschatology, Signs and
Wonders, spiritual
warfare , Ecumenism, Restoration of
Apostles and
Prophets, Jubilee/Feast of
Tabernacles, and the Post-denominational Church.
Some
leaders of the Latter Rain
movement taught that as the
End approached Manifest Sons
would arise.
These Manifest
Sons, ones who have come into the full stature of
Jesus would receive
the Spirit without measure.
Manifest Sons would be as
Jesus was when Jesus walked on Earth.
Manifest Sons would receive a number
of "divine gifts", including the ability
to teleport, to speak any language
through the Holy Spirit, and
would be able to perform divine healing and other
miracles.
The Lesser Key of Solomon suggests that
if you can controleth the mighty and strong Duke spirit Bathin
then
you can use Bathin's supernatural power to
teleport.
Exorcists wear this
symbol on their panties to
control
Bathin
Manifest Sons claim they cannot be
deceived and do not
deceive while all fellowships
that do not adhere to Manifest Sons
dogma are channeling
Satan - the "Antichrist".
Manifest Sons claim they will restore
man's rightful position as originally mandated in Genesis ushering in the
millennial reign of Christ in which all people
will be given full redemption -
free from the curse of
Original Sin,
free from
sin causing
evil spirits that will be scattered
before the triumphant power of Joel's
army and all sickness, disease, death and
desires of the flesh will
end.
Manifest Sons claim the ultimate
anointing will glorify them to
such a degree that they become "Christ" on
Earth, an
corporate embodiment of
Christ, destined to
rule over all
humanity!
Manifest Sons
dogma claims Christianity is not complete without
economic,
spiritual and day to day
control of all
human
life through whatever means necessary -
the "apostles" are the generals
and individual acolytes
make up the bulk of Joel's army of
mindless human robots that
pathetically follow the wolves
dressed in sheep's clothing!
"At the
apostles gathering as we
worshiped the Lord and gave
ourselves to the Spirit, a
vision appeared. I saw the
Heavens open, and a great white
light appeared, radiating out from the
One in the center, as the
light from the sun does. As I looked, I
saw it was Jesus, and He held in His Hands a
Child, who had just been recently born. He extended the Child and asked, "Who
will be responsible for this Child?, Who will care for it, nurture it, and see
that it is kept safe from those who would harm or destroy it?" The Lord reached
down into our midst, and said "will you (apostles gathering) be responsible
for this Child?" Our voices rang out, "we will accept this Child as our own, we
will bear the full responsibility for it, we will nurture and cherish it, and
bring it to full maturity...we will see that no harm comes to it."
Jesus then, handed the Child into our
collective hands, and said, "I will be
with you, I will provide ALL THINGS NEEDED to bring this Child to maturity and
for it to accomplish the Divine Purpose I have Ordained for it on
Earth...My Glory will be seen, and the
Harvest will be reaped."A Man Child
is birthed who is to bring about a dramatic change in the entire structure of
the CHURCH....The Man Child will bring full
Apostolic Order." -
vision given to
apostle Paul Cunningham at the
2nd apostles gathering
Major adherents of
Manifest Sons
mythology include:
Earl Pearly Paulk,
Oral Roberts,
Paul Cain,
William Marrion Branham and
Benny Hinn
"Are you ready for some real
revelation
knowledge ...
you are god!" -
Benny Hinn
Benny Hinn channels
supernatural
spirits. The
supernatural
spirit enters
Benny Hinn and takes
control of his
mind and
tongue to the point where he is
unaware of what he has said. After his sermon on December 31, 1989, at
Orlando Christian Center, during which he gave several future
prophecies,
Benny Hinn stated that he was
drunk on the
Holy Spirit and asked someone to
tell him what he had just said.
"So my point is this, that there will
be a manifestation of the
sons and daughters
of God. And it won't be this baloney that we've heard of in the past; I
mean, there's been a few people tried to walk through a wall like this over
here and knocked their brains loose, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm
talking about a manifested
son of god; if
anyone walks through this wall over here, they're not going to tell you about
it - I mean, they're just going to do it. And
sons of god
don't tell you they're
sons of god,
they'll just show you!" - Paul
Cain
The hallmark of the modern
revival has been a "submit now,
think later" strategy.
"I know some of you are
going to disagree with this. Don't you even stop to disagree. Revelation 12:5.
If you disagree, just file it in `miscellaneous' and check it out. And don't
bother with it; when we get to heaven
we'll check it out and you'll find out I'm right" -
Paul Cain
When any type of
social grouping -
revival,
corporation or government -
needs to slowly alter the beliefs and
thoughts of a target group, they can
effectively do this without harming or alarming the members of the target
group, without incurring legal penalties, and while being supported and funded
by those very people whom they seek to enslave!
The clever use of
music, atmospheric lighting, the
alteration of mood, crowd control,
astounding testimonies to raise expectation, the noise,
chaos, lack of
time for reflection or
thought - all this and more has been
noticed by revival watchers.
At revivals a repetitive
beat, ideally ranging from 45 to 72 beats per minute (a rhythm close to the
beat of the human
heart), is very hypnotic and can
generate an eyes-open altered state of
consciousness in a very high
percentage of people.
In an alpha state, sometimes known as a hypnotic
state, you are at least 25 times as suggestible as you would be in full beta
consciousness.
Moving
from a beta state of consciousness to an alpha state of
consciousness results in the
internal release of the body's own opiates: enkephalins and endorphins,
chemically almost identical to opium.
If you
think you can attend such
revival gatherings and not be
affected, you are probably wrong.
A
perfect example is the case of a woman
who went to Haiti on a Guggenheim Fellowship to study Haitian Voodoo. In her
report, she related how the music eventually induced uncontrollable bodily
movement and an altered state of consciousness. Although she
understood the process and thought
herself above it, when she began to feel herself become vulnerable to the
music, she attempted to fight it and turned away. Anger or resistance almost
always assures conversion. A few moments later she was
possessed by the music and began
dancing in a trance around the Voodoo meeting house. A brain phase had been
induced by the music and excitement, and she awoke feeling
reborn.
YouTube - FULL GOSPEL HAVING A HOLY GHOST
TIME!!!!
The only hope of attending such gatherings without being
affected is to allow no positive or negative
emotions to surface. Few people are
capable of such detachment.
Some physiological disorienting tactics are
well known (listed in
KUBARK
Counterintelligence Interrogation manual) - prolonged sessions of loud
music, clapping, dancing, jumping, rolling around, flashing lights,
laughing,
shaking,
speaking in tongues,
people barking like dogs and allowing
no dissent or opting out which is seen as
blasphemy of the
Holy Spirit - a never to be
forgiven guarantee of eternal
damnation!
Many who have been involved in "restoration" or
"shepherding" fellowships as well as
revivalist fellowships would agree that
their lives were swallowed up by the people and events such that "natural
life" disappeared and all
social interaction took place with
fellowship participants.
The fellowship, through
leadership goals, becomes the adherent's only point of reference and
anything outside of that dogma or
fellowship
experience is actively discouraged.
Anything contrary to the
"approved" dogma is viewed as
evil and "negative".
When an initiate
experiences
revival "supernatural manifestations",
people "outside" no longer seem to understand him. Only the "anointied" seem to have
empathy for the
initiate because they share his
fellowship
experiences.
All the initiates
commit themselves to work for the exciting goals of restoration - they have a
common cause that binds them, and non-members simply "do not understand".
Those initiates who are not
totally convinced are put down and pushed out - no
critical thinkers
allowed - while only the mindlessly obedient are
praised and lifted up - becoming trusted members of staff and elders. Choosing
to leave the community is to throw away one's only "chance in this
lifetime for
enlightenment and glory."
To spare themselves criticism or challenge,
initiates avoid contact with anyone
who has not shared similar experiences.
Indeed, contact and conversation with those outside quickly
angers them, because their perceptions are challenged and the initiation begins
to break down.
Social events, outings, meals and other
day to day happenings are all confined to fellowship members, thus reinforcing the
validity of the revival
experience.
This cult-like
behavior seemingly never occurs to fellows
in modern revival movements!
Astute revival watchers
understand these techniques are being used within current
revival
fellowships to promote the new
dogma.
Joe Christian may come to the
fellowship meeting confident that he is
saved, filled with the
Spirit, reasonably
clean-living and with no major hang-ups. Once there, Joe Christian meets with
hundreds or possibly thousands of people (all similar to himself) who tell him
by their words and actions that he
"resisting the Spirit" if he does
not adopt the altered paradigm of the new
way of the
Third Wave.
Joe Christian
thought he
knew
God and had
experienced the
gifts of the
Spirit.
Joe Christian looks around at trembling and paralyzed bodies; he
listens to testimonies of thousands of conversions and
miraculous
healing!
Joe Christian sees angels, blue clouds of glory, power
surges in the electrical systems, loud and intense music pulsates at 66.6 beats
per minute, strobe light flashes,
glittering gold dust descends, lightning
strikes! splitting the lectern in two - anything Joe Christian formerly
thought was the
anointing of the
Holy Spirit now seems like dull
fantasy.
Joe Christian needs
"more, more" if Joe Christian is to become a "proper
Holy Spirit filled
Christian!"
God urges us to fully use our
minds - after all
God gave them to us - to pore over
"teaching" to see if it is according to
God's Word, and
never, never to become a mindless
automaton willing to accept anything and everything we hear or are
commanded to by the new "prophets
and apostles".
If people can be trained to be
ruled by their
senses, they are more malleable, easily
manipulated, and ready to be driven
from one new lustful fad to another. The
advertising industry has
learned that by appealing to people's "felt needs" they can sell a new product.
Likewise, the charamismatic
New Apostolic Reformation
movement has borrowed the same tools and
strategies to market
latter rain/manifest sons/kingdom now/word of faith
dogma and practices to
traditional
Christianity – a group already saturated
with, and desensitized by, the modern mass
media dopamine
driven culture in which we live.
Neoevangelical initiates
immersed in the constant barrage of modern mass
media, particularly dopamine generating
advertisements, become
trained to salivate upon the stimulation of dreaming of the next
dopamine inducing "anointing".
Neoevangelical
initiates fall for
dopamine generating "anointing" - "new, better or more" -
just like drug
addicts.
Forget truth, this
"feels" so right! Sensational!
The
Holy Spirit is doing a new
thing!
Rush off to the latest signs and wonders "revival"!
The Holy
Spirit makes people laugh like
hyenas, bark like dogs and
contort their bodies into - birthing
positions?
Slick new
packaging helps to sell products.
Likewise, sugar-coating
dopamine inducing
events with a spiritual patina
works to sell new dogma.
So if you
can be induced to attend the latest rally,
revival, prayer event, training
session or conference then the organizers
know you can more easily be
persuaded, seduced, manipulated and
marketed to.
Addiction to
the latest dopamine
high disguised as a outpouring of the
Holy Spirit!
If it feels
good, do it! Whatever it takes!
From an early age we seek to please our parents and those around us -
to do so wins approval. Love and approval
are closely allied; therefore doing those things that bring acceptance and
approval within a social fellowship are
those things that, to our natural
minds, provide us with security,
love and a sense of belonging.
In modern mass
media revival, there is a continual pressure to adopt the actions and
beliefs of the
majority. Instead of leaving it
to the individual
conscience, the false religious
leaders make sure than anyone not conformed to the herd mentality is
humiliated in public, isolated and
kept back from any recognition of authority. No doubter will ever get to lead
the worship team!
"When the
Holy Spirit
controls our lives
He will produce this kind of
fruit in us:
love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." - Galatians
5:23 Throughout history people have sought relief from
emotional pain in
fellowship with other people.
Some
of those refuge seekers also sought something that many times seems more
elusive - truth.
Seekers of
truth do not typically function well in
the institutional settings as
adherence to dogma is an
institutionnal necessity .
Blind unquestioning
faith and
obedience to
traditional forms of authority
is not a trait of truth seekers.
Today's prophetic
apostolic corporatist reformation
reaches out to a different kind of seeker – not a seeker of
truth, but a
seeker of power -
supernatural power.
Prophetic apostolic
corporatist
non-profit institutions are
encouraged to be "seeker-sensitive" to those who are looking for
supernatural power.
This has encouraged an explosion of
false religous teacher who are quite
willing to give the seeker of
power what their itching ears want to hear and what their scaly eyes want
to see.
Many of today's so-called
prophets see this
power seeker's attitude as
something healthy, as they themselves
seek power from the
supernatural as opposed to
truth.
"Millions upon millions are going to end up listening to the
prophet, that will
predict to them, and
tell them what their destiny is.
You see that's what people are after. They
want to know what their destiny is
. . . they're going to press a little bit further and they're going to ask for
the prophets to come and tell
them: What do we have to do? Where are we going to go?
What is our future?'" - Kim
Clement
Today's generation of
magic and
supernatural power seekers are
dissatisfied with a God they cannot
physically see,
hear or
touch with their parochially
conditioned consciousness.
"The word has to become
flesh. When
God gives you a
word, it becomes your portion for
life, and screams out at
Him.
God responds only to
Himself,
His own
image…When you become the
voice of God, you see with a
divine perspective.
Seeing
prophetically is seeing from a
divine perspective…what you
see, YOU BE. When you become the
voice of God, you change the
way you
see…The
word, when it becomes
the voice , has the
power to stop anything in its
way. You have to have the faith
and energy to become the word; this
is the promise that is already rooted deep within you." - Kim Clement April
2007
Other "prophets" have
taken Ken Clement's word and are
trying to bring it into being.
"You can only go to the level that your leader gets to. You can only
prosper to the degree that he prospers because he sets the standard and the
pace by what you allow him to achieve." - Ken Clement
The biggest
promoter of the false prophets and their
business of making money by
satisfying a hunger for power
is Elijah List publisher, Steve Shultz.
(Steve Shultz's advertised prognosticators include
John Arnott, Bill Hamon,
C. Peter Wagner,
Cindy Jacobs, Todd
Bentley, Wes & Stacey Campell, John & Paula Sandford, Kim Clement,
Rick Joyner,
Mike Bickle,
Dutch Sheets,
Chuck Pierce, Jill Austin,
Ché Ahn, Mahesh Chvada,
Bob Jones, and anyone else who hears "audible voices" in their heads.
Whatever conference they're
involved in, Steve Shultz advertises them on his "Elijah List" - and sells the
conference tapes
afterwards.)
For the seeker
of power the supernatural path
to that power is purchased in the form of CDs, books, web casts and
conferences.
Several
years ago an "audible voice" spoke
to John Hinkle the pastor of Christ Church in Los Angeles saying that
evil would be ripped out of the
world on June 9th. When nothing happened, it
was explained away as something taking place
invisible in the
heavenly realm. Promoters of
prophecy are looking for a "shift"
in the heavens to a new date and are
anticipating a great latter rain
outpouring.
In June 2007 in Birmingham, Alabama there was a "Special
Impartation Conference" with
the following promotion:
"Bob
Jones is one of the most respected prophetic fathers of our nation. His
unique approach to the prophetic
ministry ignites faith,
releasing people to a new level of anointing in their
prophetic
gift. He seems to walk with the
Lord both day and night, and the
supernatural is an everyday
occurrence to Bob Jones. As
Bob Jones begins to minister
prophetically to an
individual, the
Lord moves through
Bob Jones, touching on their past wounds,
present circumstances, and future dreams
that they may be made whole. "I just tell them what the
Lord reveals to me,"
Bob Jones says. The greatest strengths of
Bob Jones' ministry today are in the
areas of revelation,
power over the enemy, and
creative
miracles."
Kathie Walters
ministers in the seer anointing.
Kathie Walters insists that the realm of the spirit - the
supernatural realm, with
angels, heavenly visitations, the
Chariot Throne, etcetera - is meant to
be a normal part of our spiritual lives and every
individual should
fantasize,
imagine and pray for
supernatural power.
Kathie Walters travels all over the world, imparting a
prophet/seer
anointing and promising
acolytes she can help them "increase
signs and wonders in your ministry"and
"release of finances for your ministry."
"The demonstrations of the
Lord's power must increase in your
ministry. There are things to do, places to go, and finances have to be
released to enable the Lord's people to go where
He is telling them to go and do
what He is telling them to do."-
Kathie Walters
Notice the emphasis on
power,
signs and
money and the lure of having the
same supernatural power
imparted to the participants through the transference of
supernatural power - possibily
by the "laying on of hands."
The
"prophets" promoting "The Call" appear on Trinity Broadcasting Network.
LaMar Boschman: "Western people are afraid - we need to get vertical -
that's the key to miracles." (He
spoke on the importance of singing and
chanting.)
Ché Ahn: "Another
wave is hitting ... we will see another
Jesus movement."
(The
Jesus movement was began by
Lonnie Frisbee.)
Lou Engle: "We will no longer call
him Baal, we will call him our
husband."
Mike Bickle: "This
is a sovereign dimension. The Lord
is restoring the five-fold ministry. It is one
river, not three separate movements
(Mike Bickle heard these things from
an audible voice, that only an
apostle could hear.)
"The Call" is these "prophets" (oops! I mean
apostles as they have been
upgraded!) political
power siege collective effort.
Steve Hill is sponsoring his own effort to harness
teen power in an event called "Collision
2007":
"We are living in the greatest days of
history. There is a hunger for
revival and a deep longing for the Lord to do something unlike anything
we've ever seen before. I'm especially seeing this among today's youth. The
Lord is raising up a generation of
young people who are willing to take a stand for Jesus, regardless the cost. I sense within my
spirit a deep urgency to do
everything possible to fan this flame. Being parents of
teenagers, Jeri and I are dedicated to making sure young people have every
opportunity to "collide"
with the presence and power of the
Lord. It is for this reason we will
be hosting our first youth conference, appropriately named
Collision. We're inviting youth from across the nation to come join with us
this summer as we seek one thing, a "collision" with the King of Kings." -
Collision Conference 2007
advertisement
"Steve
Hill has preached to millions, claims to have seen hundreds of thousands won
into the Kingdom, and now has the
heart to see a new generation come
into a life-changing encounter." -
advertisement
"Greg Wilkerson, international speaker, neoevangelist, and
award-winning film producer, has focused his ministry on teenagers.
Known for his insight and ability to
communicate effectively with high school students, Greg Wilkerson has addressed
tens of thousands of teens at youth conferences and festivals
throughout the world. Greg Wilkerson is the
son of David Wilkerson, founder of Teen Challenge." -
advertisement
For
any discerning
believer, certain things are evident
from the rhetoric coming out of Apostolic Prophetic movement.
These "prophets" do not
lift up the Bible; they appeal to those
seeking supernatural
experience; everything is shrouded in mystery; they see themselves as
little gods; and they need
to involve masses of humanity
in order to harness physic energies for tapping into "THE FORCE".
By
setting themselves up as "prophets
and apostles" they become the
CEO, and CFO of the newly franchised
corporate non-profit
fellowship.
It is easy to
understand why the
modern searcher, yearning for more than our mass
media driven consumer
oriented industrialized
materialistic
culture offers, would search for
God in a mega-church. After all mall
size churches are familiar and, just like the mall, allow more sycophants to
participate in mass hypnosis and delusion.
Those that are looking for "signs and wonders" would do well to leave
their God forsaken commercialized,
steel stud, drywall sheathed, mega-churches and look for
God were man does not reign - in
nature.
No
human that has ever set foot in
Yosemite Valley can doubt the might and
power of the
Creator.
No human
that has ever stood at the base of a two and a half thousand year old Sequoia ,
born before Jesus, and doubt the
power of the
Creator.
No human
can stand on the sea shore when a set of 20 foot tall
waves are breaking on the shore and
doubt the power of the
Creator.
"When you come into the land which the
Lord your
God is giving you, you shall not learn to
follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you
anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the
fire, or one who practices
witchcraft, or a
soothsayer, or one who
interprets omens, or a
sorcerer, or one who
conjures spells, or a
medium, or a
shaman, or
one who calls up the dead. For
all who do these things are an abomination to the
Lord, and because of these
abominations the Lord your
God drives them out from before you. "
Deuteronomy 18:9-14
"But there was a certain man called Simon, who
previously practiced sorcery
in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was
someone great, to whom they all gave
heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, "This man is the great
power of God."
And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his
sorceries for a long time...
And when Simon saw that through the laying
on of apostles'
hands the
Holy Spirit was given, he
offered them money, saying, "Give
me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay
hands may receive the
Holy Spirit." But Peter said to
him, "Your money perish with you,
because you thought that the
gift of God could be purchased with
money! You have neither part nor
portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of
God. Repent therefore of this your
wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the
thought of your
heart may be forgiven you. For I
see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." (Acts
8:9-11,18-23)
"I foil the signs of
false prophets and make fools of
diviners and those who overthrow
the learning of the wise turning learning into nonsense." - Isaiah 44:25
"My heart was set to see revival but
revival did not come. I spoke about God's
demand for holiness and how revival would come if we met it. Two elders grabbed
me by the arms and took me to an office away from the meeting. Another leader
joined us and they decided that I must have a
demon." - Gregory L. Robertson
The
New Apostolic Reformation or
Apostolic Culmination was birthed
from a combination of the Charismatic
Pentecostal,
Latter Rain/Manifest Sons/word of faith/ Kingdom Now movements, and thus
includes belief in the ongoing
ministry of the Holy Spirit
within an adherent; the performance
of miracles (healing,
supernatural works, or "signs and wonders"),
prophecy,
revelation and formation of
god within a
believer.
The New Apostolic
Reformation maintains the "New
Apostles" are ordained through "visions,
signs and wonders" and given
supernatural power and
authority to fulfill a task, rather than merely to convey a message. The
five-fold offices of the Church -
Apostle,
Prophet, (Neo)Evangelist, Pastor
and Teacher - was first popularized by
Latter Rain/Manifest Sons
adherents.
Many "prophetic" ministers publicly
declared that "the '80's was the restoration of the "prophetic", the '90's would bring the
restoration of the "apostolic".
The New
Apostolic Reformation seeks to reform Christianity on a global scale
beginning first with the local
fellowship which is then networked to other
apostolic
fellowships which
relate to one another as the
Body of Christ.
Apostolic
fellowships tend to be small; consisting of
dedicated sycophants; who all
function and carry weight in the fellowship; working together toward the
vision of the local "prophet."
"Prophets" who were hosted by
Mike Bickle such as
Paul Cain,
Bob Jones,
Rick Joyner, and John Paul Jackson
have gone on to take a leading role in the formation of the
New Apostolic Reformation .
"The
reality the
Lord has planned will always
manifest first in the prayer
life of
His
intercessors. As
intercessors,
He has called us not to
wonder about the future, but to
create it through the
knowledge of
His Living Word and
prayer!" - Francis Frangipane, associated with the
Kansas City "prophets"
The
Apostolic Council of Prophetic
Elders was formed to provide a
corporate forum for leaders
with a recognized "prophetic gift."
The Apostolic Council of
Prophetic Elders claims it warned of
terrorist attacks killing people on
American soil if
American did not pray fervently in
the winter of 2000.
Some
current and past members of the Apostolic Council of Prophetic
Elders are: Paul Cain, Stacey
& Wesley Campbell, Mike &
Cindy Jacobs, Bart
Pierce, Chuck Pierce,
Dutch Sheets, Doris &
C. Peter Wagner and
Mike Bickle.
Cindy Jacobs,
co-founder of Generals of Intercession,
Joel's Army, issued "A Prophetic Call to
Revolution" to youth in 2000. This prophecy foretold that certain
fellowships would become official "command posts for
revolution" and that the
Lord now was calling "radical
revolutionaires."
YouTube - The Underground
"For I
would say to you, My
children there is a page turning in the heavenlies, and at the top of this page I
have one word, and it's 'revolution'. And the
Lord says, these are going to
be days where I am going to trouble the
enemy through you. These are
going to be different days than you have ever
known, and
I am going to
require sacrifice of you that you cannot
imagine.
I am going to
require a sacrifice of your children, says the
Lord. And the
Lord says, I'm going to
shake everything that can be
shaken." -
Cindy Jacobs, co-founder
of Generals of Intercession channeling the
Lord
"There are
fellowships that will be command
posts for revolution,
and to these command posts I would
say, I am going to bring a | | |