From North Battleford to Toronto.

David Forbes begins an examination of the influence of the 1948 North American 'Latter Rain Revival' Movement, a precursor to the Toronto ‘outpouring’.

Due to unusual events and a new teaching propounded in the preceding 18 months, in the autumn of 1949, at the 23^rd General Council meeting of the Assemblies of God in the USA, held in Seattle, Washington, the following resolution was passed by an overwhelming majority:

OFFICIAL DISAPPROVAL OF THE 'NEW ORDER OF THE LATTER RAIN'

WHEREAS, We are grateful for the visitation of God in the past and the evidences of His blessings upon us today, and

WHEREAS, We recognise a hunger on the part of God's people for a spiritual refreshing and manifestation of His Holy Spirit, be it therefore RESOLVED, That we disapprove of these extreme teachings and practices, which, being unfounded Scripturally, serve only to break fellowship of like precious faith and tend to confusion and division among the members of the Body of Christ, and be it hereby known that this 23rd General Council disapproves of the so-called 'New Order of the Latter Rain' to wit:

1. The overemphasis relative to imparting, identifying, bestowing or confirming of gifts by the laying on of hands and prophecy.

2. The erroneous teaching that the Church is built on the foundation of present-day apostles and prophets.

3. The extreme teaching as advocated by the 'New Order' regarding the confession of sin to man and deliverance as practiced, which claims prerogatives to human agency which belong only to Christ.

4. The erroneous teaching concerning the impartation of the gifts of languages as special equipment for missionary service.

5. The extreme and unscriptural practice of imparting or imposing personal leadings by the means of gifts of utterance.

6. Such other wrestings and distortions of Scripture interpretations which are in opposition to teachings and practices generally accepted among us.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That we recommend following those things which make for peace among us, and those doctrines and practices whereby we may edify one another, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come into the unity of faith.

This resolution of the Pentecostal Assemblies was occasioned by the fact that some 18 months earlier, on 12 February 1948, the so-called 'Latter Rain Revival' had begun at the Sharon Bible School in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. This 'revival' began among about 70 students who, when their names had been prophetically revealed as being 'ready to receive', manifested 'gifts' after being ‘prayed over' and having hands laid upon them by the school leadership.

George Hawtin and his brother Ern, together with PG Hunt (who along with George had recently resigned as a pastor in the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada) and the Hawtin's brother-in-law, Milford Kirkpatrick, had some six months earlier joined the Rev Herrick Holt of the Saskatchewan Church of the Foursquare Gospel in an independent work called 'Sharon Orphanage and Schools'.¹ Together they opened Sharon Bible School on 21 October 1947.

The Pentecostal movement, which had begun with the Azusa Street revival in San Francisco in 1906, had by this time been going for over 40 years and much of its denominational life had become quite ritualised. It had lost its spontaneity and much of the use of the gifts or manifestations of the Holy Spirit in regular church life had become merely theoretical.

Since the mid-1930s there had existed a deep spiritual hunger in many Pentecostals for some kind of revival of the spiritual energy and enthusiasm, accompanied by the manifestations of the Holy Spirit's presence, that had characterised their beginnings.

In the 1930s and 1940s there was deep spiritual hunger in many Pentecostals for revival of the spiritual energy and manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s presence that had characterised their beginnings.

EARLY PRECURSORS TO THE 'LATTER RAIN'

There were two men in particular whose teaching and ministry greatly influenced those through whom the Latter Rain movement started: Franklin Hall and William Branham.

Franklin Hall

The men who started the Sharon Bible School were all looking for some kind of revival. Herrick Holt had been preaching for some time that God was going to do a 'new thing' in accordance with Isaiah 43:18-19, although he was still awaiting revelation from the Holy Spirit as to what the 'new thing' would be.²

Their expectations of revival were heightened and much influenced by a book entitled Atomic Power with God through Fasting and Prayer, written by one Franklin Hall in 1946. Hall was an ex-Methodist who had begun an independent travelling evangelistic and healing ministry. In the autumn of 1946 he had set up in San Diego, California what he called “a major fasting and prayer daily revival center”.³

However, Hall was very much into his own brand of theology. He was convinced that the Church was on the brink of a great worldwide revival, and that from this revival would emerge a victorious, perfected Church which would include the 'overcomers' who would attain immortality.

One of his particular teachings was that fasting was the primary means by which revival would come and bring in the restoration of the Church. He maintained that God always responded to fasting and that without fasting, prayer was ineffectual. However, he also maintained that all prayer, if accompanied by fasting, was effective irrespective of to whom it was made. By way of proof of this assertion, Hall would quote that the American Indian tribes had their prayers to the Great Spirit answered because they fasted.⁴

According to Hall, during the first year of ministry in the revival centre, there were over 1,000 people who claimed to have been converted, with many testifying to having been healed of various sicknesses and diseases through fasting and prayer. He also claimed actual appearances of the Holy Spirit in fire and smoke.⁵

Hall also taught that the restoration of the Church would involve the immortality of believers in the Lord Jesus by means of stages of spiritual growth. This would be achieved through a life of holiness plus various psycho-spiritual encounters (i.e. experiences with UFOs, UHOs - unidentified heavenly objects - and IHOs - immortal heavenly objects).⁶ He called this 'overcoming' which would bring a 'rain of righteousness' or 'a rain of immortality' upon the earth and revitalise the sleeping church.⁷

The teachings of Franklin Hall, an itinerant minister with his own brand of theology, greatly heightened and shaped expectations of revival.

Hall also taught a number of other strange and non-biblical doctrines including assigning spiritual significance to the signs of the zodiac. He believed that what he was encouraging was all part of the fulfilment of the ‘Joel's Army’ prophecy of Joel 2:3-11 when “gravity freed, great people will run up walls” and “permanent, lasting freedoms from all sickness, harmful, accident things and defeat will come about” in this present life.

He even went as far as to teach that “Freedom from the imprisonment of all gravitational forces will also be brought upon the whole man. This study teaches one the power and secrets of space flight...It gives the Bible formula for weightlessness, the 'raising up' power of those who come to immortality (Jn 6 and Rom 2:7)”.⁸

Despite his obviously aberrant beliefs and his works-orientated methodology with its possibly occult overtones, Franklin Hall's book was a great success and brought him some fame. Not only was it a great influence upon the Sharon Bible School brothers but others in the 'healing evangelism' stream such as Gordon Lindsay, Oral Roberts and William Branham claimed to be much influenced by its teaching.

No-one seems to have been in the least concerned about Hall's non-biblical beliefs and practices and simply accepted his fasting methods, presumably on some kind of pragmatic basis.

William Branham

The Sharon brothers were also considerably impressed with the ministry of William Branham and they attended a 'healing campaign' meeting that Branham was holding in Vancouver only three months before the Sharon 'revival' began.⁹ It is said that some of them had Branham lay hands on them for the impartation of spiritual power.

William Branham was born near Burkesville, Kentucky on 6 April 1909 and his various biographers say that miraculous visitations and supernatural events followed him from birth.

For example, one of his biographers, Pearry Green, relates that a visible light hovered over his crib the day he was born, accompanied by what he called “a strange aura, a Presence”.¹⁰ It is also claimed that he received his first vision at the age of three and that at the age of seven had his first experience of what he called 'the voice' which told him, “Never smoke, drink nor defile your body, for when you are older there is a work for you to do”.¹¹

William Branham’s various biographers say that supernatural events followed him from birth.

During 1933 Branham had a series of seven visions regarding forthcoming major events that would take place in the world. This led him to predict (he was at pains to stress that it was not a prophecy)¹² that the end of this present age which he equated with the Laodicean Church would occur around 1977 and the millennium would then begin.

Although it could be said that there has been quite substantial fulfilment of Branham's first six visions, the last and final vision, which he saw as occurring in 1977, and involved the physical destruction of America, has not yet come to pass.¹³

His national healing ministry began in the spring of 1946. According to his own testimony God led him to a secret cave (some versions of his biography say a cabin) in Indiana on 7 May of that year where he met an 'angel' who told him “Fear not! I am a messenger, sent unto you from the presence of Almighty God. I want you to know that your strange life has been for a purpose in preparing you to do a job that God has ordained for you to do from your birth. If you will be sincere, and you can get the people to believe you, nothing will stand before your prayer, not even cancer”.¹⁴

The angel then went on to tell him that it would be necessary for people to confess their sins before they appeared before him for ministry and that he would be used to preach to multitudes all over the world in packed auditoriums. According to Pearry Green the angel told Branham of “a fabulous ministry to take place”.¹⁵

Branham also alleges that the 'angel' (whom he appears to have identified with 'the voice') told him that he would be able to detect diseases by vibrations in his left hand and have the ability to tell people's secret thoughts. Branham said that the 'angel' always accompanied him on stage at his healing sessions and stood at his side, and he is also on record as saying that the healings were not done by him but by his 'angel'.¹⁶ Branham put great store on the direction given to him by this 'angel', even cancelling meetings because of what the 'angel' told him.

Branham held his first 'healing revival' meeting in St Louis in June 1946 and his reputation soon spread. According to David Harrell Jr, who wrote a history of the healing and charismatic revivals in America entitled All Things Are Possible, “Branham's healing power became a worldwide legend: there were continued reports that he raised the dead”.¹⁷

Branham put great store in the direction given to him by his ‘angel’.

It was said that Branham's ability to discern people's illnesses, and sometimes their sins, although he had never seen them before, was amazing. Ern Baxter, who was a member of Branham's team and worked with him for between four and eight months every year for six years, said that he never once saw Branham's discernment miss. The Pentecostal historian Walter J Hollenweger, who knew Branham personally and interpreted for him on his visits to Switzerland, wrote of “Branham's ability to name with astonishing accuracy the sickness, and often also the hidden sins, of people whom he had never seen”.

Hollenweger also said that he was “not aware of any case in which he was mistaken in the often detailed statements he made”. Significantly, however, he also said, “By contrast to what he claimed, only a small percentage of those who sought healing were in fact healed.”¹⁸

Teaching on Kingdom Restoration

Branham was convinced that the Church was on the edge of restoration and the manifestation of God's kingdom on earth, basing much of his teaching on the scriptures of Joel 2:23 and Revelation 1:20-3:22. He interpreted the 'latter rain' of Joel 2 as the new Pentecostalism of his day and taught that God was restoring his Church from what he called 'the locusts of denominationalism' or 'the mark of the beast'.

From the passage in Revelation he taught that 'God's Seventh Church Age' (i.e. the Laodicean age) had come and identified it as God's final move. He claimed that the angels (or messengers) to the seven churches were simply men who appeared at particular times in Church history to bring new revelation to lead the Church progressively to sanctification.

Many saw Branham as the messenger to the end-time Laodicean Church and hailed him as the greatest apostle and prophet for the final age of the Church. For example, Paul Cain, who at that time exercised a 'healing evangelism' ministry and had considerable association with Branham, described him as “the greatest prophet of the twentieth century”.¹⁹ Voice, the magazine of the FGBMI, went further and said “In Bible Days, there were men of God who were Prophets and Seers. But in all the Sacred records, none of these had a greater ministry than that of William Branham”.²⁰

However, like Franklin Hall, Branham had some decidedly non-orthodox theological views, especially about the doctrine of the Trinity. He did not accept the orthodox teaching of a Godhead comprising of the Three Persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, which he said was the 'Babylonian Foundation' of denominationalism. Rather, like the heresy of Arianism, he believed in one Godhead which showed itself in the three 'attributes' of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

As with Franklin Hall, many were prepared to totally overlook Branham's aberrant theology for the sake of the signs and wonders of his ministry.

He also espoused the view that God had given his word not only in the Bible but also in the Zodiac and the pyramids of Egypt. These aberrant beliefs, together with his unorthodox ministry methods, eventually brought Branham into conflict, first with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, and eventually with other mainline denominations.

However, as in the case of Franklin Hall, there were those who were prepared to totally overlook Branham's aberrant theology for the sake of the signs and wonders of his ministry. For example, many in the 'healing evangelism' stream did so on the basis of 'unity' which was for them an important issue. Gordon Lindsay, who was seen as the co-ordinator of the healing movement, is said to have “repeatedly stressed” the need for a “vision of the unity of God's people”. He is reported also to have said of Branham that “the uniting of believers had been the burden of his heart from the time that the angel had visited him”.

Influence in Sharon

The brothers from Sharon were very affected by what they experienced at the Branham meeting in Vancouver. This is clear from a glowing article which appeared in the January 1948 issue of their periodical The Sharon Star:

The Branham Campaign in Vancouver B.C. was a great success...Never in my life have I seen anything to equal what I saw in Vancouver...His [Branham's] sermons have the effect of inspiring faith in his hearers...To my best knowledge I did not see one person who was not healed when brother Branham took time to pray specially for him...I came home from those meetings realising as never before that the real gifts of the Holy Spirit are far mightier than we have imagined in our wildest dreams…

All great outpourings of the past have had their outstanding truths. Luther's truth was Justification by Faith. Wesley's was Sanctification. The Baptists taught the premillenial coming of Christ. The Missionary Alliance taught Divine Healing. The Pentecostal outpouring has restored the Baptism of the Holy Ghost to its rightful place. But the next great outpouring is going to be marked by all these other truths plus a demonstration of the nine gifts of the Spirit as the world, not even the Apostolic world, has ever witnessed before. This revival will be short and will be the last before the Rapture of the Church.²¹

Branham differed from the other healing evangelists of his day in that he linked healing with the casting out of demons and one of his ministry methods was to cast out a demon by the laying on of hands, so that a miraculous healing might follow.

In his MA thesis to the University of Manitoba, 'The Pentecostal Movement', CJ Jaenen suggests that Branham's use of the laying on of hands in his healing campaigns influenced the Sharon brothers to do the same in their subsequent ministry.²² This question of the use of the laying on of hands was the first issue to bring the emerging Latter Rain Movement into conflict with the Pentecostal Assemblies.

Next week: The rise and spread of the Latter Rain Movement.

This article is part of a series - click here for previous instalments.

References

1. Riss, R, 1987. Latter Rain. Honeycomb Visual Productions Ltd, Ontario, p55.

2. Ibid, pp55-56.

3. Dager, AJ, 1990. Vengeance is Ours. Sword Publishers, Washington, p49.

4. Hall, F, 1975. Atomic Power with God Through Fasting and Prayer. Hall Deliverance Foundation, Phoenix, p19.

5. Hall, F. Newsletter 'Miracle Word'. Hall Deliverance Foundation, 1985, p10.

6. Hall, F, 1976. The Return of Immortality. Hall Deliverance Foundation, p60.

7. Ibid, p3.

8. Ibid, p3.

9. Riss, R, Latter Rain (see 1), p56.

10. Green, P, 1970. The Acts of the Prophet. Tuscon Tabernacle Books, Tuscon, p39.

11. Ibid, p40.

12. Branham, W, 1984. An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages. Spoken Word Publications Jeffersonville, p321.

13. Ibid, p322.

14. Green, P, The Acts of the Prophet (see 10), p69.

15. Ibid, p70.

16. Dager, AJ, Vengeance is Ours (see 3), p57.

17. Harrell Jr, DE, 1975. All Things Are Possible. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, pp35-36.

18. Hollenweger, WJ, 1972. The Pentecostals. Augsburg Publishing House, Minneapolis, pp354-355.

19. Hill, C. 'Kansas City Prophets'. Prophecy Today, London, July/August 1990, p6.

20. Harrell Jr, DE, All Things are Possible (see 17), p161.

21. Riss, R, Latter Rain (see 1), p51.

22. Ibid, p58.

Dr Clifford Hill reflects on the BBC's social engineering agenda.

What is the BBC doing? Last night they broadcast an hour-long piece of pernicious propaganda purporting to be a serious documentary called 'Transgender Kids'.¹

As a documentary giving serious consideration to the subject it was a total flop – it was neither informative nor interesting. But it was very revealing about the BBC's clear agenda to change the moral values of the nation.

There were very few children actually featured in the programme and their stories were interspersed with long speeches from so-called 'experts' on what was described as 'gender dysphoria'.

The programme was all about what's happening in Canada - the only mention of the UK came in the last few minutes, when the commentators were trying to persuade viewers that gender dysphoria is now a worldwide issue with expansive statements about the need for "gender affirmation" being universal! The implication was that children all over the world are clamouring to change their sex. But there were no hard facts or statistics given to back up these sweeping claims.

Canada Leading the Way

Two or three children spoke about their experiences and the experts said that children as young as two or three can express unhappiness about their gender. In Canada they are treated in a Toronto clinic which practises "developmentally affirmative therapy".

They prescribe gender-blocking drugs to children to delay the onset of puberty and when they become teenagers, if they still want to change gender, they can proceed to sex-reassignment surgery. The programme admitted that 88% of boys, when reaching this stage, do not proceed but decide to stay with their birth gender.

In Canada, 'gender dysphoric' children are treated with gender-blocking drugs before being offered sex-reassignment surgery.

The stories of the girls who wanted to be boys were mixed in with scenes of gay pride marches and placard-waving transgender adults, leaving the distinct impression that the whole so-called 'documentary' was just a cover for LGBT propaganda.

Again, there were no statistics given to show how widespread it is for children to express unhappiness about their gender. The statements from parents certainly did not give confidence that the adults in these children's lives had shown wisdom in their counselling.

A Global Phenomenon?

A major object of the programme appeared to be to give the impression that clinics around the world are flooded with children wanting to change their gender. It implied that this is a universal phenomenon that requires a major attitudinal change among parents and teachers to be able to identify the so-called 'classic symptoms', so that publicly-funded 'gender affirmative treatment' can be universally available.

Many of the statements made in the programme were anecdotal rather than evidence based research data to support the views of the 'experts'. But there were a number of times when the transgender slogans about "the new normal" were slipped into the script which revealed the real purpose of the so-called 'documentary' - blatant social engineering.

It is sad that the LGBT community are going to such lengths to try to convince the public that their lifestyle is "normal". Clearly, they recognise that it is not normal and that is why they are campaigning to change the definition of 'normal' to 'new normal'!

The programme gave the impression that this is a universal phenomenon that requires major attitudinal change.

Imposing A Different Value System

Those caught in or choosing a homosexual or transgender lifestyle have every right to pursue this course for their lives – although what a Christian response to this looks like is obviously a controversial topic worthy of much discussion and prayer.

What I object to is the values promoted by the LGBT lobby being imposed forcibly on the rest of society as is apparently being advocated by Dame Louise Casey, the Government's 'integration' czar. In a recent speech to a select committee in the House of Commons, she labelled church schools who support traditional marriage as "homophobic". The BBC appears to be participating in this campaign of social engineering to change our national attitude to family, marriage, love and gender away from God's original design.

In Britain, we already have laws protecting minority groups from discrimination - our so-called 'hate laws' are there for this very purpose. In a civilised society, it is right that we should respect the rights of minority groups; but it is not right that the BBC (as our national broadcaster) should use its power at prime time to broadcast a blatant piece of social engineering - such as the 'Transgender Kids' programme last night.

Postscript: Clearly this is not just a social issue which is part of the natural movement of change that occurs from one generation to the next, reflecting changes in technology and living conditions. What is happening here is a deliberate attempt to change the foundational values and beliefs of our society, which are rooted in our understanding of Creation, the nature of existence and the health and well-being both of individuals and society as a whole. These are essentially 'spiritual' concepts that we will be examining in greater depth in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we value comments from our readers.